This week was spring break. The good news is that the weather was amazing- mid 70's all week long. The bad news is that the pollen is killing us all! I felt bad for the families sitting by us at church today. WAY too much wheezing and hacking!
Curtis couldn't take much time off this week so we planned accordingly. On monday I took the kids to Six Flags with a couple of girlfriends and their kids. We had a great time. I'm still amazed that all of my kids are able to enjoy that place. There are so many rides for Lucy and of course plenty for the boys. Daniel doesn't enjoy wild roller coasters. This is difficult for me to accept since I was raised on "Cedar Point" but luckily there are a lot of rides that aren't totally stomach dropping. I didn't get to go on many rides that I wanted to and am thinking I need a moms day at Six Flags. :)
On Tuesday we recuperated. Napped. Ate. I wanted the boys to do a little service over the holiday so I invited one of my favorite moms with a new baby to bring her twins over on Wednesday so she could get a break. I talked to my boys a bit beforehand but didn't do the best job of explaining exactly what I wanted them to do (ie: threatening them with consequences lol). With my kids that is so critical and if I forget to do it before the event.. the moment is sort of lost. Anyway, we did take the girls to our park and the boys did a pretty decent job of entertaining them, at least until their friends showed up. Dang! I'll keep trying. Whenever I am prayerful about helping my children I ALWAYS get the impression that I need to teach them service. And it can be simple. But even simple service seems to be a challenge. We'll keep trying...
Later that evening we went roller skating with some friends. The Katy Roller rink is like 20 years old and totally takes me back. It's definitely not the typical Katy crowd. Lots of tats and roller derby type outfits, but they played "Brick House" early on so I knew it was a classy establishment. I was so proud of Daniel. This is his third time at that rink and the first time he literally could not stand up on skates. But he was very determined and was away from the wall cruising on his own the whole night! Actually he had a bit of a swagger and from the back he sort of reminded me of my brother Riche (I told him this and made sure he he knew it was a major compliment- Riche rocks on skates). Oh and the boys made me participate in a race... and I came in third place. Had to knock down a couple of 6 year olds to do it but it was worth it. Of course at one point Isaac and I were holding hands and pulling eachother around the rink really fast. Our skates hit and we both fell. Ouch- huge bruise on my knee. Overall a good night though.
It's a bit of a blur but at some point during the week, Curtis brought home several yards of soil in his truck and we all worked to wheelbarrow it to the backyard. There will be more of that next week too. yea! We're hoping to plant a hedge and a tree or two. Wish us luck. Landscaping in Texas doesn't appear to be our gift.
On Thursday we packed for hours (literally) and headed up to Lake Livingston. We camped for 2 days and really enjoyed being outside in such beautiful weather. Another ward in our stake had planned the event and there were around 20 families there. We had a great time. Highlights:
1) watching the boys play capture the flag
2) singing around the campfire, everything from Dan Fogleberg to Alanis Morrisette. :)
3) eating some great (and some not so great) camp food
4) doing science experiements with the kids
5) watching my normally very shy husband play the guitar... while other people listened!!
6) talking about constellations with Isaac and Curtis
7) eating Brandi's amazing peanut butter cookies- I need that recipe! (they're flourless too)
I also started a list of things to do and not do before our next trip. At the top of the list? Bring easy food for at least 1/2 the meals. My kids love cooking over a fire so I planned a lot of our food that way. We tried corn on the cob and hot dogs for lunch one day. It tasted fine but PBJ's would have been so much easier. I also brought power balls and puppy chow for people. Next time I'll just grab granola bars and chips. Actually the dinners were pretty good. We did foil dinners for the first night and a stew in a dutch oven for the second night.
Tips for foil dinners: use heavy dute foil, just one layer. Then use 2 layers of cabbage leaves. The inner layer tastes so good and the outer layer will keep your food from burning. The rest of the ingredients are: ground beef, potatoes, carrots, onions and cream of mushroom soup. These are great with salt and pepper and a little ketchup.We came home on Saturday completely saturated with smoke and dirt. I washed my hair 4 times and it still smelled like a camp fire. I did about 6 loads of laundry and then Curtis and I both took much needed naps. We finished out the day by watching 2 episodes of "24" season 8. It's not the best season I've ever watched but really, "24" just has a special place in my heart.
Okay, this post is getting too long. More later.
