kid update

David is enjoying baseball, but really needs to pay attention. He really shouldn't be throwing the mitt around when he's playing 3rd base. He is a perfectionist when to comes to homework. He did his first book project last week, and when I explained to him more about what the setting was he cried, not because I asked to change what he had written, but that his teacher would see the erase marks and too much erasing would get him points docked. He is still great at helping out with Amy. It's the only way I get a shower most days.

Timothy loves to hug! Everyone! All the time. Often when it's not convenient, or wanted. I've decided that punishments don't work with him. All he does is whine if he losses computer time, or sits in time out, but it doesn't motivate him to do the things I've asked him to do. However this morning I discovereda new motivation. I gave him a big hug after he got dressed when I asked him to. Then I told him he could give me a huge hug as soon as his bed was made. That chore can take a really long time for him. It really only takes him 2 minutes, but he dawdles, reads, finds a string or piece of garbage to play with. This morning it took less than 10 minutes - that's an accomplishment. And yes, he got a huge hug!

His handwriting is getting much better. It's so great to see him improve. He still gets a few letters backward, but I can actually read what he's writing! He loves his teacher, and thinks everything she says is absolute truth! If only he could remember to turn in his homework. He is enjoying tee-ball as well, and doesn't quite pay attention, but he's having fun.


Amy's newest words:
uh no: I don't know
nunny: bunny
ooce: juice
aside: slide
uhfy: butterfly
fowuh: flower
uh fow: I fall
assies: ashes as in "Ring around the Rosies"
caw: a bird sound - a crow more specifically
wee: for going down slides, or around in circles,
wo: for when she pretends to fall down
bow: bowl - she wants a bowl at every meal now
cut - she wants me to cut everything from her bananas, to cheese, to crackers.

Amy is getting into pretend play. Just after I got her down from her high chair she said, "Up, eat". I laughed and said, "you just had a snack". She answered, "No, puppy up. Puppy eat." She wanted to put her puppy in the high chair

Buckle it in and feed it a snack.

She also got into my makeup the other day. She didn't make a huge mess. I'm sure that day will come.

And she hates the swings at the park. What's up with that? My boys could stay in them for hours!

But she likes the merry go round - standing up - but only if it's really slow.



Timothy and Amy "dancing"


more dancing

No school today

It's another Teacher Development Day, so the kids are home. We had a treat at Target this morning and then some time in the sun at the park.




After lunch I put Amy down for a nap, and played a game with David. Now the kids are playing on the computer, and I have a few minutes to myself.

March Madness is in full swing. So far I've only missed 3 picks (out of 23), but it can only get worse from here, thanks to Georgetown losing. I actually did two brackets, and one of them is horrible! My final two lost in the first round! Unfortunately for Aaron that bracket was the one I put under his name - oops.

I feel like I'm really behind in journaling this week. I didn't really get past last Saturday. Aaron was up all night so he never really missed losing an hour. He came home to sleep for about an hour before church. Church was great! Timothy and I did a musical number. I had been asked to be in charge of the musical number that day, and since I put it off and didn't ask anyone to sing with me I decided to ask the kids if they wanted to sing with me. It was actually my dad's idea. But David didn't want to, and Timothy said yes, so we sang, "My Heavenly Father Loves Me." I had to get an accompanist last minute, because I forgot about that too. The song went pretty well, even though halfway through Timothy suddenly had to go to the bathroom really bad. He was wiggling pretty good, but he kept singing. He missed a few words here and there, but did great.

After Sacrament Meeting I went to Primary with David since he was reading a scripture. Aaron took Amy to her first day of nursery. I already mentioned that she did great in nursery. Aaron joined me in the primary room for David's scripture and then went home to sleep some more. It was great to be able to enjoy the rest of Sunday school and Relief Society.

The kids were a little rowdy after we got home and Aaron didn't get to sleep much. We had a great dinner, and we had an early night.

Monday was a good day, I don't remember much other than Aaron coming home with the irises, and having FHE.

Tuesday I helped out with the school tours again. I remember that I just did some laundry, I didn't go anywhere else because I was waiting for a package. Aaron's phone had broken, and he was waiting for a replacement. Of course the 20 minutes I'm gone to pick up the kids, they try to deliver the phone. (Larissa, don't worry about me taking Olivia home - I would have missed it anyway - Timothy's class got out late, and I got into the van 5 minutes after they attempted to deliver it) Normally it wouldn't be a big deal to wait a day for it, but Aaron was going out of town on Wednesday and needed to have the phone with him. When Aaron called to see if it came, he suggested that I call them and see if the driver could come back around. I did and they said if I didn't get the package by 5:00 that I could go pick it up at the distribution center - about 20 minutes away. I had pretty much resigned myself to taking the kids down, and dreading it. To my pleasant surprise the driver came back less than 20 minutes later! Aaron had to work late that might so there was no way he could have gotten it. I take that back he had a break from about 5:00 to 6:00, but we couldn't pick up the package until after 6:00. Since the phone came, he drove home to get it and transferred all the data etc. while he was at the night clinic. He ended up only seeing one patient that night, so he had time.

So Wednesday Aaron left really early to be at the inspection at 9:00 am. We were glad there wasn't much snow on the pass, since it was snowing there Tuesday night. We had green eggs and ham for St. Patrick's day - no pictures, since Aaron had the camera with him. I basically went grocery shopping and then did some cleaning at home. I was in contact with Aaron after the inspection, and everything went as expected. There were a few minor things, and they said the roof needed to be replaced. We were hoping that would happen. So we asked them to replace the roof are waiting to hear back from them about bids etc. It was a beautiful day outside, but a little chilly. It was fun to play on the playground. We had our traditional Corned Beef and cabbage, and these yummy brownies. Aaron had cub scouts that night, and that's about it.

Thursday, another typical day. What did I do yesterday? I can't even remember! Probably because I was exhausted. Amy didn't sleep well that night, and took a 1 hour nap, she was pretty grumpy. We got to play outside again, even after dinner. However Amy has a runny nose, and we didn't stay outside long. I wonder if she'll be able to go to nursery on Sunday?

Today we have baseball and teeball practice. So I think I'd better come up with a quick dinner! OK, so that's all for now.

Pics of the week

We've had a great week. I didn't get any pictures of David's baseball practice, but one of the Dad's did. He emails the pictures out, so I downloaded a few.

David with buddies Michael and Chet

Listening to coach Jeff (although David is looking at the camera)

Aaron came straight from clinic, and wasn't dressed to help out, so he took Amy, and chatted with another Dad.

The kids all lined up. I'm in the stands behind the dugout

baseball practice pictures courtesy of Mertz Photography

Amy continues to do silly things. She was playing with her pant legs and thought it would be funny to do this:

Aaron brought these flowers home from work the other day. A patient's family works at the Tulip festival - there are obviously other flowers there as well. They brought a huge box of irises. Aaron took home three bunches. This is what they looked like last night:

And this afternoon, they were blooming already

I might do some actual recapping another day. I've got too much going on right now.

Phrases and food

Amy and Allie. Amy didn't want to share the chair with Allie (about 3 months younger and 50% heavier - man Amy's a lightweight!).
And once again she had pulled her pigtails out.

Amy is talking a lot more lately. I don't think I can even begin to tell you all the new words. This past week she would tell me when she wanted her diaper changed, and would willingly lay down when I asked her to. She would then tell me what to do. "Wipe", and "issy" - which either means "stinky" or "messy" or both. She also tells me to "wash" after I'm done. Then she wants to wash her hands too. She is also starting to use phrases. It started with "I want some". That's all. She wouldn't say what she wanted, just, "I want some". I still have to figure out what she wants. Although usually she'll point to the pan of brownies or the cupboard where I keep cookies etc. She will also say, "Hi Mommy", or "Hi Daddy", and "Bye Mommy" or "Bye Daddy". Saturday night while she was in the tub I asked her if she wanted to get out. She said, "No. No, no, no out bath". And today when she lost her shoe at church, she said, "Uh-oh shoe". I just wish she'd said the "shoe" part before I got all the way to the van, I had to go back in a look for it - it had already been placed in the lost and found.

More words have surfaced around her favorite subject - food. She loves to eat, but she's very picky. She actually ate a whole carton of yogurt "oat" in two sittings - that is 32 oz!!! I guess that makes up for her refusal to drink milk. I made pizza the other night. When David told her what we were having she said excitedly, "zah!" She even asked for "zah" for lunch the next day, and she was sad that wasn't an option. She also asks for a "Be" (bib) when it's time to eat.

She likes to say letter names even though she doesn't recognize any letters yet. Typically she'll say, "A", B", "D", "M", "O", "V" and "Y". she likes the "ABC song" as well. However she still requests "O" (Old McDonald) the most.

Today was her first day in nursery. She did great! Aaron took her down, she was a little clingy, but one of the nursery workers distracted her and Aaron left. I kept waiting for them to bring her to me crying. But I got to listen to the rest of Sunday school and all of the Relief Society lesson uninterrupted! When I went to pick her up, a nursery worker was bringing her up the stairs, and when she saw me she started crying - that is typical for her when I pick her up. So hopefully next week will go as smoothly.

I'm sure there's so much I'm forgetting to write down. But at least I am documenting some things.

Long Days, and Nights.

Aaron is no longer working at the public hospital downtown. He is on an Adolescent Elective. So instead of taking the bus downtown everyday he is at two or three locations everyday, and has to "volunteer" at a free clinic in the evening once or twice a week. That means he was gone for 14 hours Tuesday. He would have done the same Monday, but his afternoon clinic was canceled.

Adolescence is not his favorite age to care for. As you can imagine they get a bit more complex. Which is one of the reasons he is doing this service. He wants to feel more comfortable with this age group. So for that reason I hope he learns a lot this month.

Wednesday wasn't too bad. He got home just after 5:00. Thursday they wanted him to go to a movie screening at the hospital tonight (part of a teen support group), but we made plans with Nathan and Amy, so was able to leave early. Friday he got off in time to come to most of David's first baseball practice.

In addition to the long work days, we have had some late nights. We weren't up too late on Monday, but we found out on Tuesday morning that our Realtor had emailed us at 10:30 with the counteroffer. We had until Thursday night to accept or counter. Aaron didn't get home until almost 10:00, so we were up late making decisions, going back and forth with our counteroffer. We finally sent the counteroffer late that night. Wednesday night at about 9:30 they came back with another counter offer. We felt comfortable with it, so we signed everything, and then slept on it. Thursday morning we emailed our Realtor with our acceptance of the final counter offer!

I still don't want to get too attached, because we still have the inspection - which might change a few things, and then the financing has to go through. I don't know if I will feel relief until we close. We don't even have a date for that yet.

On top of that our dear Aunt Libbie died on Wednesday morning. She was nearing 97. We knew she wasn't going to be around forever, but she seemed to be doing well. She had been at an assisted living facility, and was looking into another one since she felt she needed more help, she just wasn't able to do as much as she could when she was 95 :)

I loved getting to know her after Aaron and I got married. I wish we would have visited her more. She will be missed.

Other things this week... I watched a couple kids for co-op, helped Timothy's class during library time, took the van in to get the A/C repaired - under warranty thank goodness, did some visiting teaching, and shopping - grocery, Target and stuff for baseball. I need to get cleats for David still. David's first practice was yesterday. It was cold, but not rainy. They had to end it early because it got dark. Next week will probably go the full 90 minutes because of Daylights Savings - which is tonight - or technically tomorrow at 2:00 am! He has another practice today, maybe I'll remember to take the camera this time.

Oh, and I've been following the Conference Tournaments for the NCAA basketball. Way too many upsets for my liking, at least in the MWC. UNLV and SDSU for the championship??? That's crazy! Were either of those teams even on the bubble? Does SDSU even have a chance on UNLV's home court? OK, so they split wins this season, each won on their home court, but I still think their should be a neutral court. That's not likely to happen soon.

Well, I might get another post out today since Aaron is on call - hey that's one less hour he has to work, right?

Beautiful Weekend

As I mentioned before Friday was a wonderful sunny day

Amy and I spent some time outside.When we got out there she wanted me to read her a book,

and was mad when I wanted to take a picture of her, so she ran away.

The daffodils are out. But I can't figure out why they are drooping.

This bush is in our front yard. I have no idea what it is, but right now it smells wonderful!

This is what Amy looks like when she takes her pony tail out.

Saturday was also great. After a little clean up around the house, Aaron took the kids to the science museum. I stayed to do a little more work, and then went to a Stake Relief Society Birthday Party. It was a nice social activity, and lunch.

In the afternoon The boys flew their airplanes that Aaron had bought at the giftshop at the museum on Thursday. I also listened to the final regular season BYU basketball game. We got off to a really slow start, but then we got into a rhythm, and destroyed TCU 107 -77!!! We will get to play them again in the MWC tournament this week. I love March Madness!

I don't have any pictures from Saturday, but I do have this video:


Sunday was also a beautiful day. Even though it was colder, and ended with rain, we really enjoyed it. We drove down for the baby blessings of our nephews Patrick and Payden. It was great to be at church with Valerie and Christian. We also got to meet some of Christian's family.

After sacrament meeting we all went back to their place and brought lunch over to the clubhouse of their apartment complex. The kids of course loved the exercise room and the raquetball court. Amy was intrigued with the full-sized mirrors.
Evelyn was the life of the party. While Aunt Amy held one of the boys - Patrick I think - Evelyn was making everyone laugh playing with Christian's mom.

Today the weather is back to normal, and even a little chilly: 35 degrees this morning after a high of 61 on Saturday :(
Well I am busying myself with blogging and exercise, while trying not to think about the counter offer that may come today, or tomorrow, or the next day. I also attempted to get some pictures of Amy in a new outfit - I got it on clearance at Sears - $7 for the pants, shirt and jacket!

Amy just wanted to look at the pictures, she didn't want me to take any.

refusing to sit still

mesmerized by the TV.

Flight Museum

Thursday night Aaron had pack meeting at the Flight museum. Usually it's on Wednesdays, but the first Thursday of the month is free museum day. Many museums have free admission for all or part of the day. Since pack meeting was at 7:00 we planned to get there about an hour early and go around the museum and then meet up with the scouts. It worked out pretty well. Aaron came home from clinic, shoveled down some dinner and we headed to the museum.

The last time we attempted this museum was when we first moved here almost 3 years ago, and the kids were having a really bad day i.e. running away, bathroom accidents, not listening etc. So we didn't stay long, and didn't get much out of it.

Thursday was much better. Amy loves riding in the stroller, so it was fun for her until we kept stopping. Then she wanted out. So she wasn't very interested, but we got to see a lot of things. And I took a few pictures. David wasn't cooperating with me taking pictures, which is why there aren't any good ones of him.

Amy pulled her pony tail out on the way down

Like Timothy's choice of clothes? When do they learn to match - or do they?

Aaron as an astronaut

David was trying to give Timothy a piggy back ride.

waiting in line to sit/play in a little plane.

It was a fun evening. I was surprised that Amy didn't fall asleep on the way home. But she was ready for bed when we got home just before 8:00.

Fussy night

In a way I wish we hadn't stayed up so late (see previous post) I had barely fallen asleep when Amy woke up. Aaron went in to get her back to sleep. Less than 15 minutes later she was awake again. I'm still not sure exactly why she was crying. Amy would not be comforted. Usually I just give her the binky, she'll lay down and I'll rub her back and that's it. Sometimes she wants me to stay, and I'll lay on the floor for a minute or two, and then go back to my bed. Last night, she wouldn't lay down, she wouldn't even take the binky. She kept throwing it. It was really unusual. After about 10 minutes of her screaming I decided to try to take her out to calm her. That back fired. She screamed even more, when I tried to cradle her she would arch her back. When I laid her on the floor she would roll around, but not calm down.

She kept pulling at her pjs, so I tried to take them off her, she fought me, so I tried to put them back on - she fought me. I finally got them off, but she was still rolling around screaming. I took her out into the kitchen and turned on the basement lights to see if I could see something that might be bothering her. Her skin was red in places, but I could tell that was just from her rolling around on the carpet. No bites, no hives. At this point I don't know what else to do. She's crying, I'm crying. Aaron came out to try to help. He couldn't find anything wrong with her either, but realized she was cold so we forced her pjs back on her. After about an hour of screaming she finally took the binky. She started to calm down.

Aaron went back to bed and I pulled her onto the couch with me. Aaron comes out with a blanket and pillow for me. Amy was finally quiet, but she was still restless. After about another 45 minutes of fitful sleeping for her, and no sleep for me I decide to put her back in her crib. She only protested a little, but then she laid down. I laid on the floor in case she didn't stay asleep. I'm not sure when I fell asleep, but I woke up at 2:45 am to get back in my bed. She didn't wake again until 5:15. I got her to go back to sleep, but at 5:50 am she was up for good. Then she asked to watch a movie, and when I told her "no", she threw a fit. Since everyone was still sleeping I tried to calm her by offering her a book, or even breakfast, but she wanted a movie. I just let her throw her fit.

When she dumped out some toys it woke up Timothy. There was no sleeping after that. She was fine all morning until about 10:30. She was hungry, and didn't want anything but pudding. After that I made her some oatmeal, but she was so tired she just screamed. I found her binky and gave it to her and she started nodding off. So I put her down for a nap at 11:00 am. I got a few things done, and then decided if I was going to be of any use today I needed some sleep, so at noon I took a nap too. I got about 30 minutes. I think it was enough. Amy woke up at 1:00 pm. It was a beautiful day, and Amy and I spent some time outside. I took some pictures. I'll post them later, along with pictures from last night.

Making an offer

Last night Aaron and I stayed up way too late reading 26 pages of information and signing our names or initials on most of them. We are officially making an offer on a house today. I expect there will be a counter offer, and we will probably counter again. So hopefully in a week or so we'll have a mutually accepted offer. It's been a long and crazy process, but today will be a huge step. I am really excited about this house. So I really hope it works out. I don't want to jinx it, so I'll tell you more about it later.

18 months (almost)

Amy is almost 18 months old. Today she had her check-up. I was a little surprised that she was only 21.1 lbs, and 30.25 inches. I didn't realize she was so small. Every time we go she drops down a curve. However, those two stats are the only things I'm worried about. Her head circumference is off the charts, and her development in all other areas is on track. So we are going to track her height and weight in 3 months, and see if we need to do anything with her diet. I think she offered to see her sooner just to give me peace of mind, since she didn't seem too worried about it. Besides we won't even be here for her 2 year check up. So we'll get to see her one more time. Well I guess I have to set up appointments for David and Timothy still.

Anyway, back to Amy... She is doing great. She has a great vocabulary, and is getting into trouble climbing on things and being possessive - that's pretty normal right? I love her laugh, and that she loves to eat - even though she is picky. She loves to read books. We picked one up at the library that has Sesame Street characters. She has since learned how to say "Elmo" - "Memo". Her other favorite books have dogs in them, she says, "puppy".

She loves to eat yogurt. Since she won't drink milk, that is how she gets her calcium, among other things. She eats about 8 oz a day - or more.

She loves her brothers, and loves to give hugs and kisses.

I think she is ready for nursery, not that it will be easy for her, I'm sure she will cry, but I think she will enjoy it. She would be going to nursery this week for the first time, but we'll be going to Valerie and Christian's ward as they bless their baby boys.

Ok, it's getting late and I can't think of anything else.

pictures, videos and some random thoughts

I accidentally posted this before I added all the wording. Oops! So let me try again.

Amy will now say "cheese" when I take a picture, but she presses her cheeks at the same time.





This week she refused to let me do her hair. She would shake her head back and forth numerous times so I couldn't comb it. After the second day of having hair in her face constantly I attempted a pony tail at the back. She still protested, but at least I didn't have to struggle with her twice.

A view from the back

After her baths she likes to put her towel back on her head.

She often throws fits when she doesn't get what she wants. Usually it's when she asks for a cookie ("dootie") and I say "no". She knows where they are kept too.

Amy has a few new words. One of them I thought was "off", but I soon learned she meant "bath". She was asking to take a bath.

I took some fun bath pics the other day of Timothy and Amy

And some videos


This is a video of my trying to sing to Amy. David has the camera. And the silliness ensues.


More silliness after dinner.

Other random thoughts:

The boys are playing baseball starting this month. I just got Timothy's team roster, David's arrived a few weeks ago. I am so glad that they both have friends on their teams. Now I am just waiting to get their schedules. I'd like to plan David's birthday party, but I don't know when we will have practices or games. So I'm just waiting.

The boys have become very loud lately. Lots of yelling, screaming, and rowdiness. Not always angry or sad loudness, although there is plenty of that, but just plain loud.

We are having a lot of fun reading the Chronicles of Narnia Series. We are currently reading "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader". The book is due tomorrow, (I've maxed out my renewals) so I'll have to go see if there is another copy of the collection, or at least the book we are reading.

I'm sure there is more, but I'm out of ideas.

Back to the grind

After we returned from vacation it was back to normal. Except for Sunday. We were supposed to have a Linger Longer after church. The theme was appetizers, and I was bringing a veggie plate. It was a fairly typical morning. Aaron wanted to make cinnamon rolls, but I neglected to tell him we were out of eggs. So I ran over to Amber's to borrow a few. We put the dough in the fridge hoping it wouldn't overflow while we were gone. It's supposed to be in there for 2 hours - we'd be gone for four. As soon as we got to church we knew something was up. We saw Br. T* of the stake presidency talking to some kind of repair guy. We soon discovered that the plumbing was not working. In consideration of the many potty training toddlers (and others) in the congregation we only had sacrament meeting. Subsequently the Linger Longer was canceled. So we got to enjoy a beautiful springlike afternoon. Aaron and David went on a walk, to talk about all sorts of things including his upcoming 8th birthday, and to tell David that Aaron will be gone for the month of April. David was so sad when Aaron told him. David is already trying to figure out how to have a birthday party without Daddy. He doesn't know that Aaron will be flying back for our birthday.

That evening we had a simple dinner including lots of fresh veggies that were intended for the Linger Longer. I don't remember what else we did, games probably - oh and we had Family Home evening in case Aaron got home late on Monday night.

Monday I was back-up for co-op, but no one called, so Amy and I went on a short shopping trip Fred Meyer had their clothes 70% off Clearance prices. And I needed some groceries too. I spent way too much, but I got great prices. Although as I was putting things away I realized Amy has way too many 18M pants (she's still too small for them), and one of the pairs of shoes I got were two different sizes - I took them back this morning, along with a pair of pants that I realized I bought for her a few weeks ago. It is way too easy to buy clothes for Amy. I also got a great sweater for myself and a coat for David. I reorganized some clothing boxes while Amy napped. I also realized that I don't have any shirts from David to give to Timothy because they aren't growing as quickly. They are in size 5/6 and 6/7 etc. So instead of packing them away in a box I just have to switch them from one side of the closet to the other. That is, when David gets new shirts.

Monday afternoon when Aaron came home he was very stressed. He's been working with the financial end of buying a house. While we can get a loan, there are a few programs we'd like to qualify for. It's a little frustrating that we don't qualify for one because we will make too much in the future, and we don't qualify for another because we don't make enough now. We don't have enough for 20% down, etc. so while we feel really good about this house, we have to delay putting an offer on it until we are sure what we qualify for. Technically don't have to have the financing in order, but our closing date might have to be closer to Aaron's start date to qualify for the rates. Anyway, needless to say we are learning a lot about buying a house.

Tuesday I think I just ran to the store, did some laundry, helped out at the library, and then tried to get the house cleaned up. Aaron had a focus group to run that night. It's part of his advocacy project. So not much happened at home other than the normal.

Wednesday I helped out at the boys' school, and had a last minute babysitting change. It all worked out though. It's time for school tours again, and I was a tour guide. There's another tour today, but Amy had her shots today and it sleeping now. After the tour I picked up Amy and went home for lunch. After that a typical Wednesday. Aaron had cub scouts that night.

Thursday Aaron was supposed to be on call, but couldn't find someone to cover his focus group. so he switched his call to Friday. Thursday was a really tough day for Aaron, and the other residents at the hospital. He had forgotten his lunch so he drove home to get it before he went to clinic. He wouldn't tell me what happened (he doesn't share much about the patients he sees), but said that I'd probably see it on the news, and I did. After his clinic he went straight to his focus group. Along with some grocery shopping, and running to the bank, it was a pretty typical day. David's homework was to play chess with someone. I think he would have preferred to play with Aaron, but since he wouldn't be home until after bedtime, he wanted to play with me. It was fun to play with him. He just finished a chess instruction unit at school. I guess they are going to learn strategies now. We did have some setbacks on the mortgage financing, so we aren't making an offer on the house right now even though we really want to.

Friday Aaron was on call, he found someone to cover the focus group that night. His bus was late, so I ended up driving him to work. I babysat for co-op that morning. So I dropped the kids off at school and came straight back. I watched three kids. One was not happy to stay, but she didn't cry a whole lot. While they were playing in the family room I cleaned the stove. No one wanted to eat much. Amy wasn't interested in eating either. She viewed everyone as a threat to her. She kept telling them "no" to whatever they did or said. The only time she ignored them is when I turned on her Baby McDonald video. She went down for her nap before that last child was picked up.

After I picked up the kids we played for a while, then Amy got really clingy and wanted me to hold her constantly. I was trying to make dinner. She had already watched her movie, and she wasn't interested in that any more. But somehow I was able to make pizza, and then we watched "The Land Before Time". you may have noticed I didn't post anything that night. I was too occupied with the Olympics, creating a playlist, and reading a new book.

Saturday morning we had breakfast and then went to pick up Aaron. He had a pretty quiet night. So when we got home he didn't have to sleep. We had a major house cleaning. I focused on the kids bedroom and downstairs, while Aaron did some major cleaning in the kitchen. The family didn't need much other than a pick-up and vacuum. After 2 hours the house looked great. David said, "I think this is the cleanest the house has ever been." Haha, not quite. Aaron and David went to help a family move in. It didn't take long, and they got doughnuts and cookies. While they were gone Timothy, Amy and I ate lunch. Then I put Amy down for her nap, and Timothy and Aaron went to a few stores. I got to play around on the computer for a bit while David played on the desktop. Then we played some more chess. I was also listening the the BYU - NM basketball game. That was a crazy game. It was so close. Two awesome teams!

The kids occupied themselves with Legos for most of the afternoon. Dinner came quicker than I expected. Aaron worked on his advocacy project. The kids had a hard time putting away all of the Legos. Eventually I went down there and helped them so they could get baths taken and still have time to play with Aaron before bed. I think I gave Aaron a haircut after the kids went to bed, and finally Aaron and I could just relax, and watch some Olympics. What a crazy week for him.

Sunday We all got to sleep in until 6:50 am!!! Yay. I neglected to mention that Amy woke up at 5:30 or 5:40 am for about four days in a row, and was up a lot at night too. But Saturday she only woke up once and slept in Sunday morning! It was a great morning. I felt like I got a lot done. I read scriptures, got breakfast ready, read the paper, showered, planned meals for the week - when was the last time I did that? - and got ready for church. I couldn't find Timothy's white shirt for church, even though I know I washed it last week. Sure enough it was in the bottom of the laundry basket, and now stunk like a dirty rag. so even though I hate doing laundry on Sunday I washed a load of whites so he'd have a shirt to wear. Maybe someday he'll have more than one to choose from.

Church was pretty good. Amy had a hard time in sacrament meeting. Her tummy wasn't feeling good, it was a bowel problem, and I was lucky the mess was contained in the diaper and diaper cover. She didn't want to sit in Sunday school either. Aaron ended up taking her out. He took her to his class, where he had to change another messy diaper. I got to listen in Relief Society, however I found myself dozing off. I'm not sure if I was really tired, or if it was too warm in the room. Either way I felt bad that I didn't participate in the conversation. Especially when the lesson ended with 10 minutes to go. The boys were bugging each other the whole way home. I was glad they went downstairs to play with Legos again. Aaron left to go home teaching and then to a Stake Priesthood meeting, that he was informed about at church a couple hours earlier. I made dinner for the me and the kids, and then got them ready for bed. They were supposed to clean up the Legos, but again they were taking way too long. This time they were trying to sort them by color. Great idea, but not 20 minutes before bedtime. Aaron got home around 8:30. Luckily he got something to eat while home teaching. Alganish always has food ready for them.

So I'm finally caught up. I'm working on another post with pictures and videos, and some random thoughts. Hopefully I'll get to that later, but I have to go pick up the kids now.