So, I started school again.  I am taking Federal Government and a State Government class.  I think it’s going to be difficult to not get in big political debates in these two classes.  Already in just one discussion post there are big debates about gun control, the death penalty, and abortion.  I feel strongly about my opinions, but I know arguing will never change anyone, so I try to tactfully state my opinions so as not to invoke anymore controversy than needed.  We shall see how it goes this semester.

I got SO much done during the 2 hours Emma was at playgroup this week.  I went to a doctor’s appointment, drove to Carol’s side of town to get some laminating done, then sped walk through Walmart to get my grocery shopping done.  I even had time for lunch and arrived just in time to pick Emma up.  It’s amazing how much faster I can get things done without kids.  If Emma was with me my grocery shopping alone would have taken 2 hours… lol.

Let’s see… I went visiting teaching again this week, Cameron’s friend came over and they built a cool spaceship for a merit badge they are working on, and Logan got his dental work complete.  He was in a ton of pain on Friday and slept off and on a lot.  He seems fine now.  Logan only has one more requirement to pass off before he can join the Adventure Rider’s Club.  He passed off the 3 mile bike ride without stopping on Saturday. 

Also on Saturday, Cameron took his SAT.  He thinks he got most of the problems correct, but since he’s only in 7th grade… we’ll see.  While Cameron took his test, Mike and Errolyn went bike riding.  They took some different trails they had never been on and some that weren’t trails.  (Errolyn enjoys getting lost and then trying to find her way out, so they took a lot of non-trails.)  So, apparently some of the new trails were pretty muddy and their bikes were covered in mud.  Knowing they couldn’t throw the bikes back in the van to drive home, they were going to bike all the way home next to the freeway (not good), but luckily they found a car wash, rinsed off their bikes, and stayed on sidewalks back to the car. 

Cameron also played a duet with a friend for another school’s Solo and Ensemble and they received a One, the highest rating.  Errolyn played awesome at her volleyball game.  She is so much more aggressive this season, so much better, and is quickly becoming the star player.  I also went carpet shopping on Saturday.  After going to several stores that were shut down or closed at 2pm (who does that on a Saturday?) I finally found a ton that were open.  We’ve found some good options and now I need to haggle for the best price.   

We went out to Outback with our friend’s the Updikes.  We had a good time talking and then went back to their house to play Rook and Carcassonne.   

Haha… just saw this on Facebook.

“Danger lurks when we divide ourselves with expressions such as “my private life,” “my professional life,” or even “my best behavior.” Living life in separate compartments can lead to internal conflict and exhausting tension….Inner peace comes only as we maintain the integrity of truth in all aspects of our lives. When we covenant to follow the Lord and obey His commandments, we accept His standards in every thought, action, and deed.”
–Russell M. Nelson, “Living by Scriptural Guidance”, Ensign, Nov 2000, 16–18

My scriptures get e-mailed to me everyday through www.readthescriptures.com and I get to read cool quotes whenever I click “complete” each day.  I really enjoyed this one.

So, Emma likes to help me a lot when I clean.  I was hanging up my clothes and she wanted to help so I gave her some washcloths to fold.  She couldn’t quite figure it out so she came over to me with a washcloth and said, “Ayudame,” which means “help me” in Spanish.  Thinking I must have heard her wrong I said, “What?”  And again she said, “Mommy, Ayudame.”  I said, “Do you want help?”  And she said, “Yes, help me, Mommy.”  I laughed so hard.  I guess she’s seen one too many Dora episodes.  She has been using other Spanish words lately too.  If we’re running late she’ll yell, “Arriba, arriba.”  She can say azul, rojo, and amarillo when she points to colors.  And one time she wanted a door open and she said, “Abre.”  My, how fast they learn.

I decided, after looking on Craigslist for  several days and going to piano stores, that it isn’t worth buying a new piano right now.  I really want a Baby Grande, but we don’t have room in this house and I don’t want to waste money on a cheap piano that isn’t much better than the one we have now.  So, since we may move in a year (because Cameron’s best friend and the only other deacon in our ward is moving, and the older boys are not nice and we want him to have good church friends and good experiences at YM, and we’ll have been in our house for 5 1/2 years by then) I’ve decided to try and fix this piano and deal with it until I have a big enough house for a Baby Grande (which there are always several on Craigslist for great prices). 

I was almost ready to call a piano repairman, but this piano really isn’t worth spending money on.  So, I watched a Youtube videos on how to fix pianos and decided I could do it.  So, I took apart my piano, including all of the piano keys, and oh my goodness the dust and junk I found in there.  There were puzzle pieces, a crayon, pieces of Valentine cards that looked like they were from the 20′s or 30′s (my piano is from 1912), stickers, and lots and lots of coins.  Logan claimed all of the coins we found in the piano and ended up with $1.89.  Wow, that’s a lot of coins for a piano!  The hard key to push had 4 pennies under it, a penny and a quarter in between to the left, and 3 dimes in between to the right.  One of the “broken” keys had a mini flashlight wedged in between the hammer and string.  One broken key had a ripped in half cord (a bridle strap I have now learned) that attached to the hammer.  On one key, the hammer was completely broken off.  So, I read online how to fix everything, I have some glue drying overnight, and hopefully everything will work well in the morning!  I feel so good that I was able to figure everything out!!  (Mike did help me with the gluing at the end, but he was totally shocked when he came home from work and the piano was laying all over the room.)

So, Mike had to go to another ward’s Ward Conference today, so he came in time to hear Cameron’s talk, and left right after.  So I had the kids to myself during church.  Emma was getting quite wiggly so I was drawing pictures to keep her quiet.  She told me to draw everyone in our family, a rainbow, a boat, then Diego, Dora, Baby Jaguar, and then she asked for a dog.  I drew the dog and she said, “No, mom, a dog.”  I tweeked it a little and she got more mad, “No, a dog!”  I’m the first to admit I’m not a good animal drawer, but come on, she’s two!  So, Errolyn took away the pencil and drew a dog, and Emma said, “Oh look, a dog!”  Lol… I can’t believe my rough shapes aren’t even recognizable to a two year.

Well, on Monday I made all of my 3 months of freezer meals!!  It took the entire day.  Although I got set behind when I realized I didn’t have enough ricotta cheese and I had to turn off all of my burners to run to the store and buy some.  But, everything else went very smoothly.  Emma was my can washer and everytime I opened a can she would wash it out and put it in the recycling bag.  I didn’t realize Mike had turned the deep freezer to it’s lowest setting, so I was really worried that everything I had made was going to spoil and not freeze since it was only at a fridge temperature, but we turned it up and after a day everything froze.  I made my first fajitas in a crockpot (on low for 8-9 hours with the marinade) and they were so tender they were falling apart… I will make them like that from now on.  The kids weren’t fond of the tuna burgers, but Mike and I liked them.  I think we’ll have white chili tonight and chicken divan tomorrow.  I love freezer meals!

Logan has really tight teeth and so he needs some dental work done because of some in between cavities.  His family dentist won’t fill them, so we went to a pediatric dentist.  She was recommending silver crowns which I really don’t want to do, so I got another opinion.  The next dentist recommended 4 silver crowns, root canals, and 4 cavities filled.  I just laughed when she told me.  I told her that I had been to two other dentists and none of them had said he needed all of that.  Then I talked to an orthodontist friend and he said she has a reputation for overtreating.  It’s a shame that some people are just out to get money.  Mike had the same problem when we moved here.  He never has any cavities and the first dentist he saw here said he had 6 cavities.  Mike switched to another dentist and they said he had NO cavities, and he’s never had any the whole time we’ve lived here.  It’s sad that people can be so dishonest.  Anyway, even though Logan brushes his teeth the same as Cameron and Errolyn (and they don’t have dental problems), we have to floss Logan’s teeth every day, use a special mouthwash, and make sure he brushes every time he eats… he likes to snack a lot which probably was a contributing factor.

I had playgroup at my house this week.  Emma was excited, but the little girl didn’t want to play until the end.  Emma was trying so hard to get her to play… she practically brought down all of her toys. 

Errolyn’s volleyball coach called Wednesday morning to say she was switching Errolyn’s volleyball practices to Thursdays.  Well, we can’t do Thursdays, so we had to switch her to another team.  But, Errolyn’s new coach seems good and she likes her team better because some of them actually know how to play and they aren’t all newbies.  She had her first game on Saturday and she did a great job!  Much more agressive.

On Wednesday, my visiting teaching companion and I threw a baby shower for someone we visit teach who just adopted a baby boy.  It was fun.  I did the dirty diaper game where you melt different candy bars in each diaper and you have to smell/ look to try and figure out what kind of candy bar it is.  Someone got 8 out of 11 correct… she must really know her candy bars.

On Friday, Errolyn turned 10… by little baby girl.  Carol and Grandma were going to eat lunch with her, but Errolyn told us the wrong time and so Carol showed up at the end of  Logan and Errolyn’s lunch.  Carol turned around and saw Errolyn walking back from lunch and her eyes were red from crying because she thought they forgot to come.  The staff and her teacher were super nice and let them all eat in a conference room.  I walked in with Emma, (not knowing they had let them eat in a conference room and to see if I could pull Errolyn out for a few minutes), and so we all ended up eating with Errolyn.  And the front office lady called Logan down so he could eat the pie Grandma brought.  They were super nice and Errolyn had a wonderful birthday meal after all.  She had a good dinner and enjoyed all of her presents.  She was excited about the American Girl doll her Grandma got her, and enjoyed her Camelbak and rapid fire shifters we got her for her bike.  We also got a her a lockable diary for her to decorate and write in and she got some cards and birthday money from Linda, Carol, and Grandma.  Cheryl called on her birthday, and Mom and Mike’s Mom called the next day.

So, ever since the kids got new bikes for Christmas, they ride them ALL the time!  Errolyn and Mike formed an Adventure Rider’s Club.  To join, you have to do all sorts of challenges: ride up the huge hill on our street, down the huge hill, ride three miles through the subdivision without stopping, ride through the greenbelt, and then ride all the way through the greenbelt to a road that’s far away.  Cameron just joined the club and they really ride a long ways with Mike.  Yesterday, they went on a 6 mile ride to McDonalds to get an ice cream cone, but they’ve gone on 10 miles before too.  I LOVE that they love riding their bikes and spending time with their Dad.  Logan goes on rides through the subdivision with Mike and is getting really good on his bike.  He has already passed the two hill tests (Mike said he wouldn’t give up and was outside for 45 minutes trying to do the uphill challenge over and over again), and he’s getting better at the other challenges.  Logan said his goal is to join by the time he’s seven… it’s so cute see him working so hard to join.  When my knee gets completely better (which is taking FOREVER), they said I will have to pass all of the challenges to join too… lol.

On Saturday, Mike and I were going to go carpet shopping, but all of the carpet stores closed at 5pm… and we left our house at 5pm.  Such is life.  So, we went to one furniture store and then a piano place to look at pianos.  We didn’t buy anything, but are just looking for when Mike gets his bonus.  This bonus will be spent on home improvement projects.  We have a prioritized To Do list, and will start at the top and buy what we have money for.  We’ll put a lot in savings for different things throughout the year, and then we should be able to at least get new carpet (since our other is old and well matted), build a wall for Logan so he has his own room and isn’t just sleeping in the game room, do some painting, and get a better used piano.  The other piano is so out of tune, three of the keys don’t work, and it’s just old sounding.  I feel so badly when the kids are practicing and half the notes in their piece won’t play and so they have to play at different octaves.  We would like to get new couches in the front, and new tables (since all of our other’s were garage sale purchases that we’ve have for ten years and are really worn down), but we’ll see how much we have left after the carpet.

Cameron’s giving a talk in church today… he’ll do good as usual.  The kids watched Prince of Egypt for the first time yesterday and Logan was crying quite a bit.  Before the movie started I told them that it was a true story.  So, when the soldiers killed all of the baby boys, Logan was crying because it “really happened.”  The poor kid, but I’m glad he has a compassionate heart.

On Saturday, I bought all of the food I need to make the 3 months worth of freezer meals on Monday.  Errolyn and I each had a cart and filled two carts at Sams Club and two carts at Walmart, although the 2nd cart at Walmart was all toilet paper, not food.  I’m going to start all of the chicken cooking in my crockpots tonight and they should be ready in the morning so I can prepare my freezer meals.  I’ve done a month of freezer meals before, but never 3 months at a time… we’ll see how it turns out.

Errolyn had her first volleyball practice on Saturday.  The coach was 15 minutes late, and when she arrived she asked for help.  I was still feeling badly from being sick, but Errolyn mentioned that she wished I was her coach so, I volunteered to help.  And after helping the whole practice I am now the assistant coach… lol.  Although, being the assistant kind of stinks because you can’t do your own drills, just help with what the coach wants to do.  I think I will coach next season.  Errolyn’s last coach was amazing!  I’ve written down all of her drills and think I could do a good job.  But, it will be fun to help in the meantime.

Last night, I went to the Justin Bieber concert with Errolyn.  We went out to eat at Olive Garden beforehand (they have her favorite macaroni and we never go there), and then the concert.  My friend Shannon and her daughters sat directly behind us which was fun.  Errolyn didn’t enjoy sitting through the opening acts, but I did.  Carly Rae Jepson was one of the opening acts and I really like some of her music, so that was cool.  When Justin finally came out, Errolyn didn’t recognize him and didn’t think it was him.  Finally he took off his glasses and the camera did a close up and she was satisfied that it was him.  She was standing and jumping up and down most of the concert.  I’m glad she had such a good time.  Afterwards, Errolyn and I and my friend Shannon and her girls all tried to find Justin Bieber’s tour bus.  I’m pretty sure he left from an underground tunnel as soon as the concert was over, but we had fun trying to find him and being in the mobs of screaming girls.  We all thought we saw him at one point, but he was so far away that it was impossible to really tell.  Anyway, we got home late and I collapsed after my long day.  Luckily, my coughing went unnoticed since the concert was so loud.  However, my coughing was very noticeable in church this morning, so I left the chapel after taking the sacrament so I wouldn’t be a distraction to everyone around me.

Cameron enjoyed seeing Elder Holland last night and said he felt the Spirit a lot.  Poor Cameron is sick today.  I’m not sure what he has, but he has a fever and feels miserable.  He ALWAYS gets sick after going camping.  It’s really frustrating that he gets sick every single time.  I was like that before my surgery.  I don’t know what it is, but sleeping outdoors (I’m sure with all the allergies) just made me get congested and I’d get a sinus infection.  Cameron is the same way, although this one may be a virus, we’ll see.  Last time he went camping he got pneumonia.  I don’t know how I’m going to send Cameron on a two year mission someday when I worried about him like crazy after just one night away.  Mike enjoyed seeing the Presiding Bishopric member since he had to set up the technology stuff for his visit with the single adults. 

We had a good FHE on Monday.  Cameron taught a good lesson about being a stronger family.  He was creative in his lesson and bore a really sweet testimony at the end.  He even started crying because he felt the Spirit so strongly and loves our family so much.  I love it when he teaches the lesson, he always really gets into it and feels the Spirit.  I’m grateful my kids are spiritually minded.  Errolyn had an interesting dream last night that I won’t share here, but it reminded me just how spiritually minded she has become lately.

I finally am on the mend… not feeling super, but on the mend.  Errolyn and I are supposed to go to a Justin Bieber concert on Saturday.  I don’t know how up for it I’ll feel, but we bought tickets 6 months ago, so I will probably still go and try to go and have good time with her.  She earned the money for her ticket, and then I bought mine.  We have some good friends sitting directly behind us, so it should be a fun conert. 

Cameron is going camping on a Freezeree with the Scouts and they spent a large portion of the week building a catapult for one of the contests at the camp.  Logan is being tested for GT this week, so we’re hoping he does well.  They’ve already been letting him come to GT this year, but now they’re administering the official test to see if he can stay.  Logan also is really into exercise lately… his gym teachers must really be inspiring him.  He’s made an exercise chart and everyday for specified periods of time he does pull-ups, push-ups, V-sit, running laps around the dining room table, and a few other exercises.  He’s been really vigilant with his routine and it’s cute to see.  Emma has been a bit bored with me being sick and all, but I’m about to turn on some music so she’ll have fun dancing for a bit.  Emma has joined a playgroup with 3 other friends though, so once a week for a couple of hours she’ll play with her friends.  We’ll rotate who is in charge, so once a month I’ll have to watch them all, but now I have a day when I can schedule my dr. appointments, dentists, visiting teaching, etc… and Emma can have fun with her friends.

So, Tuesday we came back from Fredericksburg and my fever and aches were out of control.  It has not been a fun week for me.  I started to feel better midway, and then got a sinus infection.  But, it was my first one in about a year so that is a ton of improvement for me.  The rest of the week was the same, me being sick, cleaning, and talking to the kids.  Luckily, Mike took the kids on lots of bike rides so they could get their energy out.  Logan has started riding Cameron’s old bike, without training wheels, and now loves riding with Mike and Errolyn.  Cameron also has been riding with Mike, but won’t go with the other kids because he likes to go faster.  I think that’s it for this week.  Nothing too interesting.  The kids journal jar question this week was about marriage… not their favorite topic.  Logan answered it publicly, Errolyn made hers private, and Cameron is writing his answer in a hand written journal that I am forbidden to read.  Lol.  I love my kids.  I just made a giant shopping list and will attempt to make 3 months worth of freezer meals in one day… we’ll see how it goes.