Happy Mother's Day!

Well, it's been a busy, but great weekend. Friday, Dave got a call from his cousin, Christa Gaines. He hadn't seen her in over 10 years and it was a nice surprise to hear from her. She was in town with a regional barbershop singing quartet and chorus competition. It was an organization through Sweet Adelines the women's barbershop organization. Anyway, it was a whole new experience for me, but it was amazing. There was a lot of talent and enthusiasm there (Abravenal Hall). Christa's chorus were the 2007 champions, so they didn't compete this year, but did perform for evaluation. (They accumulate points and it all factors into their competition years. They will head to Hawaii in November for the International Competition. I was very impressed by their sound -- the harmony was incredible -- and then they put on a good show with choreography, etc. So, all in all it was a good experience.

After the show we got to have dinner with her and some other friends from the chorus. It was nice to meet her and Dave was able to catch up a bit. We then headed to a party that evening, but didn't stay long. It does look like they know how to have a good time! There were women in their late 70s (?) that could really dance! It was a fun afternoon/evening and fun to see something we knew nothing about!

Kim and Steve were kind enough to put up with our 3 musketeers while we were gone for SO long! THANK YOU!! Of course, the kids didn't want to leave when we got there. They love it over there. Scottie got to help plant their garden and he was so proud of himself. He said he needed to go check on it next time we get over there. Kim called him tonight to thank him for his help and I think that really meant a lot to him. He felt very important! I guess Mason and Tanna were fairly well behaved because Kim and Steve weren't in their PJs this time dying of sheer exhaustion. They seemed like they had survived it all and might even answer our phone calls this week! :-) J/K

Today, Christa and her friend Jennifer came over to meet the kids before they headed back to Colorado (Broomsfield). We had another nice visit and the kids did all the showing off that they could -- good and bad!! We had lunch together and then saw them off before we headed to church. The kids really enjoyed them and I'm glad they got to know Christa. She is so sweet and was good to give up so much of her time to come and see us!

After church we came home for dinner (leftover lunch) and presents. Scottie was the ringleader and was so sweet with his doting on me! He gave me a sweet note he had written at church and then "wrapped" up his leftover Easter candy -- a prized possession -- and gave it to me. What a sweetheart! I was especially touched by his note and he got me choked up. (Okay, not so hard to do, but he did it!!) He then gave me a gift he had made in school -- a handprint on a wall hanging with his picture on it. He really went all out and made a couple more pictures and even wrote a poem for me. He is really growing up and is very thoughtful.

Mason made a paper flower lei and a paper flower bouquet in Primary. He was excited about his gifts and then gave me the one from preschool. See the picture to see how adorable it is. His picture is priceless. You can't look at it without smiling! A perfect gift. He then copied his brother and ran off to make more pictures and can even write "MOM" without help. That was a nice gift too!

Tanna slept from the time we got home to about bedtime, so she's up for a while now! She made a cute handprint with a poem in nursery. So, she was included in the gift giving, even if she was asleep. It was cute and will be fun to look back on!

All in all, it was a great day! Dave took me out for dinner the night before and helped A LOT around the house to get it cleaned up a bit. That was the best present of all! And I got to go to a singing concert -- my "cup of tea" and he was totally supportive! -- all wonderful gifts! He's got a long "Honey-do" list, so his Mother's Day presents will take a while to complete!

I had a good week at school. It was Teacher Appreciation week and the PTA and students were so great! They brought or did something each day! We got treats, lunch, plants, and red carpet event. On Friday we had to all wear our pajamas and they gathered the students first thing in the morning around our flag pole. They then escorted us around the block -- part of it--to the adoring fans and red carpet (rolled out butcher paper). The students had cameras and were coached in cheering wildly. We each had to walk down the red carpet, with style, of course, after they announced where we had gotten our "designer" PJs. It was very cute. They then gave us awards and a tote of school supplies. The kids told things they liked about each teacher. All in all it was a very nice way to start the day and we did feel appreciated! They ended the day by taking our students to watch a movie and let us work alone without students in our rooms. It was a nice way to end the week!

This week we'll be going to Hogle Zoo on Friday, so the kids will be excited. It should be a fun trip and hopefully the weather will cooperate. I'm sad that this is the last field trip I'll be able to go on with Scottie. Next year he'll be in 3rd grade and the upper grades go on their own. I'll miss seeing him in action. It has been fun.

Well, we're doing well and just had a visit from our former neighbors, the Skellys. They gave us their dog and we're anxious to see her again. Bella was so excited to see them and they were pleased to see that she still loves them. She has been a good addition to our family and she is very loved by Dave, especially, as well as the kids. Hey, she's grown on me too and that says A LOT!

That's all for this week. I'll have another busy week, so I won't be able to get into too much trouble! Ho hum! So...

...Happy Mother's Day to all and to all a Good Night!!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

It's May and I 'm having a hard time believing it! The weather is just now warming up -- finally--and so I guess my spring fever hasn't set in yet! Only 19 more days of school --augghh--and I have SO much to do in that time! Don't get me wrong, I'm ready for a summer vacation, but I have a lot of reading testing and "report carding" (new verb I made up!) to do. It's going to be busy, but the kids are getting wound up and are ready for a break. This will be a month of earning my pay! :-)

The Shanks family is doing well. I have a bit of a cold, but that's just due to the many temperature changes and a busy life. My voice is going again and it really makes you appreciate having a voice on the good days. I really take it for granted until I lose it. It's hard to get after kids without a voice!! Hopefully it will get better soon!

Yesterday we enjoyed our beautiful weather and had a BBQ at the park with a family who lives a couple of doors down with us. We had a good time and even ended up roasting marshmallows and making S'mores. Emily and Ella go to join us while Steve and Kim ran away to get in a movie. The kids had so much fun playing on the playground equipment that I was glad we had decided to have it at the park. Our backyard just isn't that fun. The kids also got some baseball in and had fun flying a kite. I was so glad the weather cooperated -- we were ready for some warm weather again!

We took Bella (our new dog) with us. She does really well with us, but she's not always very happy about "strangers." Dave has really been trying to take her on walks everyday and get her used to the neighborhood, etc. Well, she did do well until Scottie decided to untie her and take her around the park. A lady came by and she was carrying a dog and had another tagging along, but it was not on a leash. Bella made a run for the dog and Scottie was not strong enough to hold onto her. It was one of those pictures that you see in the cartoons like Marmaduke and Scottie hanging on to her leash and flying along behind. Luckily Dave ran up to help, but I'm sure the little dog was pretty shaken up. It wasn't hurt, but I'm sure it scared him. We felt really badly, but it was a good lesson for Scottie. He thought he was strong enough to handle her. Now he knows that he really does need Dave or me to go with him! We're planning on having Bella's former trainer come over and give us some tips. He owned her for about 9 months before the Skellys. It will be nice to fine tune some of the things she's gotten a little more laid back about. Scottie was able to teach her to give him "five" the other day. It's so cute to see her put her paw up and hit his hand to get a treat. We're working on rolling over now. She's done it for me, but it still needs some work!!

Well, it looks like the dog "trumped" Scottie. Uh, oh -- that's not a good sign! Now for Scottie's news. Scottie has another loose tooth. He's excited to lose another one, but it sure is bugging him now. He also showed how tough he is in his school class. Mind you, Scottie is the 2nd oldest in the class, but he is the smallest. That makes him one of the slower ones in the races. So, his confidence was boosted in P.E. the other day. The kids were doing pull-ups for Presidential Fitness. Mrs. Taylor was running it while I was timing kids on the shuttle run. Anyway, I went back and looked at her list and saw that most of the kids had gotten 1 pull-up or none at all. I went down the list and the only differing number was Scottie. He had done 4 pull-ups! Yeahoo! He may be small, but he's buff!! Oh, you may not notice it by the size of his muscles, but just watch him shimmy his way up a door frame and you'll see how tough he is! I was proud of him and glad he got his moment to shine!

Mason is happy or sad. There's not much in between. He's amazing me with his ability to think and problem solve. He'll come up with answers or ideas that I would have never expected. I guess I need to remember he's four now and he's not little anymore! He gave a talk in church today. They just called last night to ask him, but he was very willing. They were worried that none of the Sunbeams would want to get up and talk, but when they came to Mason's name, they knew he would. They tell me how fun he is to watch in Primary. He sure comes back with a full report on what they've done each week. That's very much the opposite of Scottie. He usually just answers that he doesn't know what they learned or did that week! Anyway, Mason spoke about families in the scriptures and he did a cute job. I don't think everyone understood every word he said, but he sure had good inflection! He was so fun to listen to and I was proud of him. I was up there helping him and whispering the words, but Dave said he was very cute and he was proud to be his dad! He wished he could have taken a picture, but it wasn't possible. I took my 9/10 year olds from my Primary class, and they got a kick out of him. They enjoyed getting out of class for a few minutes too!

Tanna made it through sacrament meeting for the second week in a row! YEAHOO!!! That's a huge celebration at our house, because she's in a tough stage. She's awfully cute and awfully grumpy!!! She's tough and she won't be pushed around. She was meant to be the youngest with two big brothers. She is a lot of fun though and is really talking. I am amazed at the things she can come tell me. She's a smart one and that makes her a handful! She's always into something and is hard to keep up with. She just pushed out the screen on the screen door yesterday. That has only happened once before -- when Scottie was little. In fact, she reminds me a lot of Scottie, except sometimes I think she's even busier. I don't remember Scottie as being quite as destructive, but I think I didn't have as many of the mess making things that we have now (marker, crayons, chalk, etc.). They're left out now because of big brothers, and that makes life much easier for her! (And messier for the rest of us!) If any of you plan a surprise visit, just know that our carpet is a mess! I'm not cleaning it until I'm out of school and home to supervise her full-time!! Our carpet cleaner will have his work cut out for him this time!!

Well, all in all we're doing great! Dave worked hard on the yard yesterday and has been a huge help keeping up with the laundry and house. He's ready for me to come home and for him to get out again. Kids are a full-time job and he's ready for a change! They do have a good relationship though and that's something that we're very happy about. Dave has a neat opportunity now and he does appreciate that. But, he is getting antsy! :-)

Well, I'm off to get some beauty rest! Ha!

Jill

Random Lazy Saturday Thoughts!

It's Saturday and I'm a bit sad that Spring Break is quickly coming to a close. It' s been so nice to be home and be downright lazy! I wish I would have gotten more done, but I guess there is a time and place for being non-productive too! I have been such a homebody that I really have no desire to even go out and get milk later. Maybe I'll send Dave. Anyway, here are some random thoughts from Mason and Scottie.

Mason: (This is what he dictated for me to type)

Bella poops in the yard and Bella plays (pways) with me every day. I like (wike) when she plays with me. I like when she plays with her toys. I like when I play with myself. I love (wuv) everybody in the whole wide world. I love Daddy. I love Mama. I love the doggy. I like Barney. I like when something starts with a B-A-I. You know what it spells? It spells BYU! I also like the whole wide family. (famiwee) I wuv everybody even Barney boy. And I love Daddy. I like everybody in the whole remote. [The TV remote is sitting here on the desk.] I like the whole computer cause I get to play Barney on it. And I like to play to play Sushi with it. [Not sure on that one!] And I also like to play B2S. [I have no idea!] I want to play with the whole entire family - and also Barney. I like Mama. I like 22 -- that's one of my toys! I love the light. Bye-bye, I'm going to play. And I wuv --even more than my family--I wuv Barney! The end!!

Scottie's turn:

I like the dog -- she's the best dog we've had. She's a good dog. She barks when other people come to the door. On Friday, I caught the ice cream truck. It was so tiring because I had to run all the way up the street to get it. But it came up to our street after I went and got it and I didn't know it was going to. I gotta go play. Goodbye! Love, Scottie

I'm off to get some laundry done so I'll have gotten something done for the day!! Happy Saturday!

Jill

The Ride of a Lifetime!!!

Wow, it's been a while since I've had a chance to sit and "blog". There never seems to be a dull moment around here! We didn't get a day off for the Easter holiday and that coupled with April Fool's Day in the same week made for a high energy level in the classroom! Things haven't really calmed down until now when we finally get our SPRING BREAK!!!!! Yeah!! I don't know who was more excited - the students or the teachers. But after dealing with a cold, my Tuesday night class, planning for a Summer Institute training, attending the NCTM Math Conference in Salt Lake City for two days and the ultimately the stomach flu - I was burned out!! We have this whole week off and today (Tuesday) I spent most of the day reading assigned chapters, writing a paper and preparing to be a discussion leader (for my Reading Comprehension class), so tomorrow I'll be ready to play. Yeahoo!!

As for the rest of the family...they are keeping out of trouble, for the most part! :-) Scottie and Mason have both had a touch of the flu, but it hasn't kept them down like it did me. I guess I'm just getting old!



Tanna is just getting to be a little talker. She is putting sentences together and can mimic most anything anyone says to her. She is still as busy as ever and amazes all who come to visit by how fast she can climb and get into anything she shouldn't! She is not a fan of wet or dirty diapers so has taken to stripping down to nothing when she feels so inclined! This causes quite a stir and is much to her liking!! Potty training will start day one of summer vacation, if we can make it that long!! She is definitely a character and she fits well in our family!!




Mason is four and becoming very grown up. He's Scottie's sidekick and loves to keep up with him. However, he is not to cool for Barney yet! He loves to sing the songs from the show and imagine. He can keep himself entertained, but loves to put on shows and invite us all to his parties. I will miss this stage of life -- when he's just too cool for it all! He's also a good big brother to Tanna. He's either taking really good care of her and using his nurturing voice or he can be found "bopping" her upside the head for messing with his stuff. Either way Tanna benefits - she has a good playmate or someone to fight back --she loves it all!

Scottie lost his first tooth the day after Easter. He was feeling left out since he's already 8 1/2 and hadn't lost a tooth yet. But, after a couple days of wiggling it finally came out! He was so excited. He was pleasantly surprised to find money under his pillow from the Tooth Fairy. I thought she was pretty generous, but she left a note that she gave a bit more because it was his first lost tooth! I wish I would have gotten that kind of service! :-) He also is becoming a great reader and is a well behaved student!! Yeah! He doesn't love homework -- that's an understatement-- and wishes he could just major in playing with friends.

Well, for those who are still reading and haven't quit yet, here's the big news...No, we're not expecting! Whew!!!! My arm got twisted and we have joined Paige and Lynn in getting a DOG!! Augghh! I said never again, but since I put some conditions on what I would want if I ever did get another dog, the door was just left wide enough open to make it happen. I vowed that IF we EVER did get a dog, it could not be a puppy and would have to be very well trained. Well, that's just what we ended up with. And for all my moaning and groaning, I have to admit that she is a VERY good dog.

The short version of the story is that the Skelly's (our former neighbors) had a dog that they were no longer able to keep. They had asked me a while ago if I was interested and I said no. Well, this weekend Dave ended up going over to the house and fell in love with the dog before he realized they were getting rid of her. I went over later to pick up the kids, and was pretty impressed with her. We ended up talking about her that night and inviting them for dinner the next day to see how the dog would do at our house. Obviously, we had a good visit and I was talked into getting her. She (Bella) had formally been rescued by a dog trainer as part of his yearly requirement for re-certification. He ended up training her (very well I might add) and then finding a home for her. (The Skellys) Well, now we get to benefit from her training and are happy to have her. The kids LOVE her and she has been so good and patient with them. She is 3 years old and I am so grateful she is not a puppy. We've done that and learned how hard that is. So, although I said I didn't want a dog, this would be the dog I could be talked into. Hey, and the benefits are that Mark will never ask to stay at my house again!! Woohoo! Just kidding -- sorry Mark-- I did use you as an excuse not to get the dog. It wasn't an overwhelming deal breaker though! Sorry!! She is a short haired dog, but I don't know if that means much to you or Braydon! :-(

Anyway, life is always keeping us on our toes around here. I can't ever say that I'm bored. Our kindergarten teacher just told me she didn't know what she would do with herself this summer. She just recently got married and is expecting a baby in September. I told her to enjoy being bored while she can. Because I have lived that same scenario (well I can't say I've ever gotten bored) and she won't be bored for much longer! She's in for a ride of a lifetime!!!

Happy Easter 2008!

Happy Easter!

We just got everyone down for the night after enjoying a nice Easter weekend. We had a nice visit from the Easter bunny and the kids were excited to get some fun surprises. Scottie had such a hard time falling asleep last night--he was so excited! Unfortunately, it meant it was a late night for all of us. We tried every trick we could think of, but he was so wound up he just couldn't settle down. I think it was after 1:00 am before he finally got down for the night. He even had Mason up for part of that time. We told them that the Easter bunny would pass our house if they didn't hurry and get to sleep. This really worried Mason. He was almost in tears when he told Dave he thought the Easter Bunny had already passed our house. We tried to reassure him that he would come back and try again. You should have seen the excitement this morning when he saw that the Easter bunny really did come back and didn't "pass us." Dave had to run to the store to get some rolls for today's dinner. Scottie was so worried at one point that the Easter Bunny would not be able to come because Dad was out so late. He included his worry in his prayer, "...and bless that my dad will be so long at the store that the Easter Bunny will have time to come while he is gone and when my dad gets back the Easter Bunny would have already been here!" Anyway, there was a lot of stress about not getting a visit from the Easter Bunny -- even I was worried that the E.B. might not be able to pull off a visit. But I think I heard him around 4:30 am, but he had to be quieter than ever this year. Poor E.B! I hope this isn't a sign of year's to come.
All in all, we were very blessed and everyone was very happy!

We had stake conference this morning at 10 am, so it made for a hurried morning. We made it though and enjoyed the meeting. The kids made it through about 3/4 of the meeting and did quite well. By the end, they were done and couldn't sit still any longer! The focus was on temple attendance and there were some great talks. One woman told about her husband who had died not long ago and about the impression that she and her husband had been called to serve a mission together after all. She was here to do the temple work for their deceased family members and her husband was on the other side teaching. I thought it was a neat way to think about the eternal nature of things.

I spent the week trying to do an "Easter All Week" remembrance with the kids. I had found a bookmark with the selected highlights and had challenged my primary kids to read each night. Well, I joined in the challenge and each night the boys and I would read what Christ had done on that day on that least week of his life. It was a good reminder for us of what the holiday is truly all about. We started out reading the selected excerpts right out of the New Testament. But by the end of the week we read out of the Children's Illustrated Scriptures. It made it much easier for them to relate. It was nice for me too. I think I'll try to make it a tradition to do this. Otherwise it is very easy to get focused on eggs, chocolate, and bunnies!

We ended our Easter Sunday with a nice dinner at Lynn and Dustin's. The kids had an Easter egg hunt and we all had a nice visit. Too bad it's a school night though! No days off before or after for us this year. I'll be tired tomorrow for sure!

Well, I'll go to get some beauty sleep! :-) I'll try to include some Easter pictures. Happy Easter to all!

We're alive!!!

Well, it's been almost a month since the last time I sat down to write a blog and it's been very BUSY since then!! I should be heading to bed, but I wanted to at least get something written. (Editor's note - the following would never pass Kellie's editing process. It is pretty much just a rambling of my adventures, so be prepared -- hope it makes a little bit of sense, I am tired!!)

Last I wrote Dave was in Arizona. He had a successful and safe trip and ended up being gone about 10 days. He ended up getting AmPRO certified (American Professional Racquetball Organization) as an instructor. He was able to spend time with his family in Tucson and attend a national doubles tournament taking place in Phoenix. All in all it was a good trip and we were glad to get him back.

I ran the kids to their various destinations during that time and was worn out by the time Dave returned. Our biggest adventure was on Feb. 13th. That was the day of our big "blizzard." I had finished the school day and had planned on leaving as soon as I could after I conferenced with a parent. One of the teachers had left a little early and called to tell me to leave as soon as I could, because the roads were getting bad. This is not uncommon in the winter, so I thought I knew what to expect and planned on a slow drive home. Well, I was in for a surprise. I had never seen road conditions like I did that night. It was a literal white-out. Unfortunately, I was the lead car with about 5 cars behind me, the further I got down the road. I could not see one foot in front of me and I'm sure the cars behind me were wondering why I was going so slow. I got a phone call from my friend, Amy Taylor from school, and I had Scottie take the call. She called to warn me that there was a big accident and to keep an eye out for it. I was so nervous, probably the most scared I'd ever been driving. But, there was no way out. If I pulled off the road, I was sure to cause an accident -- no one would be able to see me. We saw many stranded cars along the way, and saw one truck that had flipped upside down. I was amazed that the police had even been able to get there!

Luckily I knew the road, so I knew there were no turns or curves. Otherwise it was impossible to see anything. After some very stressful driving, I finally found a spot to pull over for a minute to let the cars behind me go ahead. I was done being the trailblazer. That made the drive much easier. A huge semi took the lead and he was as cautious as I had been and I knew why! I did appreciate having others to follow though!! Finally after it seemed that the worst of the drive was over, we got to the stop light. A policeman was there and had closed the road. Unfortunately, this is the main and only path into Lehi and we were detoured into the Ranches (near Eagle Mountain). There's not much in the Ranches and I was at a loss as to what to do. I called my friend, Amy, and asked her to guide me. (Road conditions were still bad and I didn't know this area very well.) She told me to go to our 3rd grade teacher's house and she was able to give me directions to get there the back way. I ended up getting to Linda's house and getting stuck in her driveway. I thought she had left after me, so I waited to see if she would pull in. I finally got a hold of her on her cell phone and she had left early to go to a doctor's appointment. Now she was stuck in Lehi with no way of getting home. She did call her husband, who had come home early that day, and had him come out to meet us. Now the driveway to Linda's house is very long and he had to walk down to meet us. He spent some time living in Alaska and came out into the horrible conditions in the best snow gear I've ever seen. He was able to get us out of the snow bank and drive us onto another one of their driveways. He invited us in and was so good to Scottie and me. (Mike is the bishop of the ward there and he told us this was his night off! Just what he wanted -- to spend it with us! :-) He didn't end ups gettting a whole lot of time off--he took a lot of phone calls from ward members.) The power was out, so we fixed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They had a fire place going and he and Scottie ended up roasting hot dogs over it. (Mind you that this was a very nice fireplace that is really just for looks.) Scottie had a blast and will never forget that dinner. I'm not sure if Linda would love knowing that her beautiful fireplace had been christened with hot dogs! (See picture above!) Anyway, Mike got out the blankets and flashlights and we ended up going downstairs for the night.

I really had high hopes of getting home and getting to Kim's to pick up Mason and Tanna. Poor Mike made a couple of phone calls to the sheriff's station to see if the road would open anytime soon. He even went out in his truck at one point to see if he could make his way on a back road. He returned and said cars were just parked everywhere. There was no getting home that night. I appreciated his thoughtfulness. He knew I really wanted to get home to my other babies! Well, we ended up staying on the couches that night and spending the night. Kim was kind enough to keep Mason and Tanna for the night. I know that she must have been worn out, but she was gracious enough to help me out in an emergency. Of course the first time in 11 years I get snowed in, Dave was out of town. Ah well, it makes a better story! Well, luckily the power came back on and Scottie got to watch a movie. It was a task to keep him entertained in the dark!! We finally got to sleep and woke up early the next morning to head home. Linda returned from staying at her mother's house in American Fork and said that the roads were passable. We headed home to get ready for school, gather our valentines and prepare for a busy day.

I got home, changed and grabbed clothes for Mason, as well as his valentines. I got to Kim's to get Tanna to take her to the babysitters. Mason was to stay for preschool with Kim and go later to the sitter with her girls. As I was driving home again, the radio announced that Cedar Valley, along with one other school were closed for the day. They didn't want the bus to have to travel on that road. I was so relieved. It meant I could "let my hair down" and get organized again. I spent a couple of hours shoveling the driveway and helping Calli Olsen shovel our neighbor's driveway. It was quite a job and I was tired! We then headed back to pick up Mason from preschool. By then the sun was shining and the roads were great. We ended up going and getting lunch and a movie for the kids. It was nice to spend some time together after a hectic week.

Friday, we went back to school and celebrated Valentine's Day a day late. I didn't mind at all, since I always prefer to party on Fridays and send the kids to settle down over the weekend. We heard about all of the adventures the kids had had during the storm. Lots of parents were stuck at work or in town and neighbors stepped in to help out. It was nice to get life back to normal again. Paige and Lynn split the day to take care of Mason and Tanna, Needless to say, Kim was pretty burned out on my kids (she had them all week), although she didn't say so. But I know my Tanna is a handful and she deserved a break. Paige and Lynn were sweet to take over and Mason and Tanna had a fun day with them. Lynn and Dustin picked them up from Paige's house in the afternoon and took them shopping at the mall and to Cabella's. Can you imagine 6 kids under the age of 7? I'm sure it was a handful, but they did great and spoiled them! They ended up taking us all out to dinner that night at Tepanyaki. It was a lot of fun and the boys LOVED it. It's one of those restaurants where they cook the food in front of you and put on a pretty good show. Dustin was TOO KIND and paid for our meal. He was so sweet and said he had worried about us in our blizzard adventures. One of these days I'll make it up to them, but they are very hard to keep up with!!

Anyway, we had a good 3 day weekend and survived without Dave. He ended up getting back in the middle of the night and was able to take over with the kids on Tuesday. We were all so glad to see him and I was glad to get back to a little less hectic life. Unfortunately, it didn't get any less hectic. I had report cards to prepare, papers to write for my class, and Mason's birthday (fun, but still busy!). In the meantime, laundry got very backed up and I'm still trying to catch up.

Well, I'll close for tonight, but will write about Mason's birthday and our most recent adventures at another time! For now, know that we are alive and are NOT bored! There's no time for that! :-)