Just Another Fun Week

I was pretty tired this whole week.  My neck and shoulder were sore several days, but I felt better by the end of the week.  Last Monday morning we got a call from Grandma and Grandpa Atherton.  They said they were in town and going to Quin's baseball game that night.   We met them and Wendy, Travis, Tate, and Quin at the park in Orem....We ended up taking our dinner too.  We were able to watch part of Quin's game...it started too late to stay for the whole thing.  It was fun to get to see everyone.

Tuesday morning Grandma and Grandpa stopped by to pick up some containers for some of their plants.  Tuesday there was also a state wide earthquake drill.  We participated at our house.

Wednesday was a fun busy day.  We went to ready to learn after dropping Jared off at school.  Then we picked up Alan and went and juggled for Jared's class....it was really fun!!!  Kindergarten is a fun age to juggle for and they laugh at everything!  In the evening we were able to go to Hope of America...it is part of the Freedom Festival.  I think 5th and 6th graders put it on. We all enjoyed it...and Alan suffered through it. :) We almost missed it... They usually do it the first couple of weeks of May....but they must have done it a little early since they are starting renovations to the Marriott Center May 1st.

Thursday was another soccer night. Jared played at 4:30 and Lauren played at 6:30 so we took a picnic dinner for in between. It was fun to have Jeff and Elizabeth come watch too.

Friday we went and played at our friend's house....They used to live in quad 2 but moved to Spanish Fork last December.  It was really fun to go visit and see their place.

Saturday was more soccer games and soccer pictures.  Lauren and I....and Connor went to a baby shower.  We had a trip to Winco...a little playing outside...dinner outside...and some lesson planning.   Oh and we went swimming...I knew there was something else.  Connor got to put his toes in too.  Next time I think we'll let him in...We thought he might be fighting a bug, but he seems to be fine.  It was a really fun day.

Today Alan got to teach 12 kids in his primary class.  He made the game from the lesson giant size...all the kids loved it. I played organ for the last time for a little while and I also got to play in primary....it reminded me why primary pianist is my dream calling.  Hopefully leading next week will go okay.

A web they built to catch me in...(they didn't think I could hear then plotting in their room)  They were mad at me because I made them get out of the tub....but they weren't mad by the time their web was finished.

Brad fell asleep on the way home from our walk to the Temple.

We are looking forward to Grandma Schachterle coming this week...and all the other fun things that are going on.

Spring Break and Preschool Ends

This last week was a good one.  Jared was on spring break and it was Lauren's last few days of preschool.  The weather at the start of the week was really nice and we were able to walk Lauren down to school.  Jared has thought it pretty unfair that Lauren has gotten to do so many cool things on campus after we drop him off at school this whole year....so he was excited to go and see what was going on.  He was not disappointed.  Independent Study was on campus telling people about classes they could take that will now be included in tuition....they were also having a carnival.  Monday (after I got my lazy man Iron Man tshirt...they were out of Alan's size so he'll get his this Tuesday) and Tuesday we went to Brigham's square and got cotton candy, popcorn, and otter pops.  They were also giving away sunglasses and beach balls and tshirts.  Jared and Brad thought it was great.  Wednesday when we walked down we ran into some friends.  They were headed to the electrical and computer engineering department's senior day....where they show off the cool projects that they have been working on all year.  We headed over after dropping Lauren off.  It was a lot of fun to go see and watch.  Jared was concerned that it was almost time to get Lauren...I told him he had another hour before we had to get her and he said yeeessss!!!  Fist pump included.  He now wants to be an engineer when he grows up...as long as he gets to work with robots.  One of the things there were remote control cars that they were steering with lasers. They had to navigate and only knock down certain pylons....and it was a race.  Jared and Brad thought this was supper cool and watched the whole competition.  When it was all over one team gave Jared a turn to drive their car.  He loved it!  It got over about the same time as Lauren got done at her last day of school.  So we just walked back over and picked her up.  Our friends came with us and then we played on the play ground at the preschool for a bit.  (We played on Tuesday too.) Alan was able to walk home with us.  We got home just before it started to rain.

Thursday and Friday were rainy.  Thursday we just stayed home...I think we only went out to get Brad some more fluoride tablets at the health center and to pick up a new key from the office....They put "new"...really old... doorknobs on two of our doors one day this week and Alan's key wouldn't fit in the lock.  I'm not sure why they changed them...They did everyone's...but they aren't better...I have jokingly said I would know they had done ours if I came home and the door knob wasn't sticky.

We had lots of fun inside play these days.

Getting stronger!!!

Brad loves!!!! to dress up.

It was hard to get him to stop moving.

Oh Thursday night our ward had a ward dance.  They wanted it to be semi-formal.  Jeff and Elizabeth came over and babysat while Alan and I went to it.  I think there were about 13 or 14 couples there....it was pretty fun.  They had a band come and play a few songs...then they had some dance instruction...then just played music for a bit.

Friday we just did our normal...library and practice organ and more playing.


The guy storyteller at the library said we could have all the left over butterflies....all 154 of them.... :)  I know it doesn't look like that many, but we counted.  Any good ideas for them?

The weather was still crazy.  It hailed a couple times on Friday.

Jared playing with Connor.

Saturday our ward had a stuff swap and Alan worked on some programing stuff.  In the evening we went to winco and a couple other stores.

Today Alan and I both got new callings...in primary.  He will be teaching the oldest class...in our ward... CTR 6...and I will be doing music (rotate between playing piano and leading).  We both got released from our old callings, but I'll still have to play organ for a few weeks since they didn't call anyone new.  Today after church Brad started wearing undies...He put on the one pair and he is sleeping in the same pair....we'll see how the night goes...but so far no accidents and he tells us when he has to go...pretty good for day 1.  All the kids had much needed naps today...but now Jared is having a hard time sleeping.


Brad building a wall for Connor...

then the others wanted in the picture too.

This should be another good week..back to school for Jared...but now that Lauren is done he is looking forward to being done too.

Happy Easter

This last week has been another busy week.  Monday morning we went to a class at the library for early literacy.  I didn't learn much, but I think everyone had a fun time.  We learned a song that starts out... talk, sing, read, write, play, talk sing, read, write, play, talk, sing, read, write, play makes a reader every day...ok so that's the whole song, but they have all been singing it all week.

Tuesday Lauren had a parent teacher conference that we went to.  Miss Dorie said she is doing great and is ready for kindergarten.  That night I went to a Relief Society activity.  It was called a "purse"uit of excellence.  It was a culmination of all the mini-classes that they have been having for the last couple of weeks. 

Wednesday Lauren had a field trip to the sandy trax station.  She has been studying trains for the last several weeks.  Brad, Connor, and I took her up there and learned all about trains.  Then we got to ride on trax for a few stops and then back again.  Jared was super sad that he didn't get to go...he's never been on a train before...It was my first time on trax too.  Jared did get to walk home from school with Alan...we weren't back in time to pick him up.  We got back just in time for Connor's doctor's appointment.  He is doing well.  He was up to 11 lbs 5 oz and 22 1/2 inches...that puts him right at the 50th percentile for both..head too.

Thursday morning my visiting teachers came.  That evening Jared and Lauren had soccer games.  They both are loving it.  Jared is super competitive though and has a hard time when some of the others on his team are off picking dandelions during the game...okay they don't really, but they don't pay attention and that really frustrates Jared...Brad likes going to watch the other guys...we told him he could go cheer so he calls himself the team cheerleader and insists on taking pompoms to every game...once we get there though he doesn't touch them and on Saturday he didn't want to carry them from the car, but wouldn't let us just leave them in the car either.  Lauren is a good little defender.  Her team always wins or ties ;)

Friday was Connor's 2 month day...and Brad's half birthday...Connor had to get his shots and I had to take him back to the new shot place.  This time wasn't as bad as last time, but I did have to wait forever!!!  It snowed that morning too...and lasted half the day. (Today the one time I looked it was 74)  We also went to story time at the library, practiced organ, cleaned up so the Easter bunny could come, and tried to go to a grad student society party...but we didn't get the email that it was canceled....so we came home and had our own party.

Saturday morning we got to see what the Easter bunny brought...candy, CTR rings, and toothbrushes...oh and ranch corn nuts in eggs (Lauren "how does the Easter bunny know that we love corn nuts?")  Then we went to soccer games.  BYU had their first ever Cosmo's egg hunt at the stadium and we went to that.  There were probably close to 5,000 people there, but they were prepared for it.  It was pretty fun.  Afterwards you could go to a baseball game, softball game, or track meet, so we went over to the baseball game for a little bit.  I saw Corina Ortiz and her son Joey there...I haven't seen her in forever.  She said she just got called to be a wolf leader and was thinking about calling mom.  We couldn't stay for the whole game...we got hungry and had to run to winco.  We raced at winco...Connor and I in produce and everyone else in the rest of the store.  I think it was pretty much a tie, but I let them claim the win.  We went there and back in just a little over an hour...which I'm pretty sure is some kind of record for us.  Then we went out to dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe with Wendy and her family.  Then we went over to the Scera to see Keegan in Bye Bye Birdie.  It was fun, but not my favorite.  I know we went to see it years ago...I was like 10...maybe....at an out door showing at the Scera when we were here on vacation, but I couldn't remember anything about it....I think that's when I'll go see it again...when I can't remember anything about it....

He looks so big with real clothes on.

Keegan got us front row tickets.

Today we had a wonderful Easter.  Our sacrament meeting was really nice with lots of musical numbers.  We dyed eggs...we were going to do it yesterday evening, but then Wendy invited us to go with them....and Jeff and Elizabeth came over for dinner.  We had ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, jello eggs, deviled eggs (with egg cracking contest...Elizabeth's first and the first one my kids could remember...maybe we haven't dyed eggs for a couple of years).  It was all very yummy.  I made a cheese cake too, but we haven't had any of it....yet.

Just for the record Alan and I finished the lazy man's iron man...we'll turn our cards in tomorrow.  This week should be a fun one...there's not much on our calendar right now, but Jared is on spring break and Lauren has her last 3 days of preschool for the year...I'm sure we'll keep busy though.

Spring fun

This week was a fun one.  Last Monday Jeff stopped by and told us about a science fair that was going on in the Harmon building, so we hurried and had Family Home Evening then went over.  I was game. :) It was fun to walk around and see all the projects.

Tuesday we had book club at our house.  So I spent lots of time that day picking it up.  We read Ender's Game this month (well March).  Alan really likes it and was glad that I finally read it....I'm pretty sure he asked/ told me I should read it several years ago...ok probably just strongly suggested.  I liked it ok...I'm not sure if I'll read any of the other ones in the series.  This is everyone hiding out during book club...they are watching Hercules...in a pretty cool fort...and with snacks.

Wednesday we didn't have anything going on, so I went swimming.  I swam a mile!  I know not a big deal for those of you who do it several times a week, but it kind of was for me.  A few weeks ago Alan and I signed up to do the lazy man's ironman at BYU.  You get 4 weeks (almost) to do all the stuff for an ironman...so swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112, and run 26.2.  This last week was our third...it ends this coming Friday.  We both still have a little more to do, but should be able to finish it...and yes I do walk instead of run...I did try running 1 time...it was only a couple of miles, but it was killing my hips....I might try running again after it's been a little longer since having Connor.

Thursday (the day Jared has been waiting for since the start of the month) was the start of their soccer season.  Lauren played at 4:30 and Jared at 6:30, so we took a picnic dinner and ate it in between.  Lauren and Jared both did great and had tons of fun.  Jared scored 3 or 4 goals....He is aggressive...competitive might be a better word, but really defensive at the same time.  They play with 4 on the field at one time and no goalie.  So Jared runs to protect the goal if the other team is getting close.  They play 8 games thursdays and saturdays...except for yesterday (you know you live in Provo when they don't have games Conference weekend) and spring break. (I forgot the camera for Lauren's game, but Alan brought it when he came for Jared's.)

Friday was Kindergarten registration.  Lauren is all signed up and ready to go.  She is pretty excited.  I heard her telling someone that she would get to go to kindergarten when preschool is over in a couple of weeks.  She was kind of disappointed when I told her there was a Summer break too.  Friday night there was a science night at the preschool.  It was fun to walk around and learn different little things at each station....ok I'm not sure how much anyone really learned, but they had fun activities to do.  After that we hurried down to the pool so we could swim.  Alan swam some laps and I was going to play with everyone else, but Brad took too long getting ready.  With 10 min left in the swim time Alan played with Jared and Lauren.  Brad made it in the pool for the last minute...maybe 2.  I didn't make it in...Connor wasn't sleeping like last time, so I'm not sure how it would have worked anyway.  Alan saw a guy he knows from CS who also coaches swimming who was able to give him some much needed help with his form.

Here they are making clouds with shaving cream.  Jared really had a good time with it and said that he wanted shaving cream for his birthday...Brad never did touch his.

Saturday I went and cycled before Conference.  We had yummy muffins and fruit for breakfast and enjoyed the first session of Conference.  Between sessions to enjoy our 81 degree day and blooming trees we were headed out for a walk, but before we could leave Brad tipped the stroller over backwards and got a huge cut on his lip and knocked his teeth pretty good.  There was lots of blood.  We thought he probably needed stitches, but after calling several people and the on call pediatrician we decided not to take him anywhere.  (BYU's urgent care had just closed and the after hour/ on call pediatrician wouldn't do stitches on top of his lip and their stitches guy didn't come in until 5.)  Jeff and Elizabeth stopped by just after it happened.  Brad saw them  and went right over...He wanted Jeff to hold him and super nice uncle Jeff held Brad with his bloody mouth until the afternoon session was about to start.  Brad did sleep for 45 min or so of it.  We watched the Afternoon session, but the rest of the day was spent helping Brad eat and drink...he only wanted drinks with a bulb syringe and we had to talk him into a popsicle.  Jared and Alan did go on a short bike ride and took some pictures of the pretty spring trees and flowers.  We all went out to play a little later.  During the Priesthood session Elizabeth came back over and held Connor while I fed Brad which was super helpful.  Connor was really grateful....and so am I.

Saturday morning session

Jared took his clean up job outside quite serious.

What they did with the stump outside our apartment.

Today we enjoyed Conference again.  Brad is doing a lot better.  He kept asking to go on a walk...if he sits down in the stroller, but the highest I ever saw it get today was 43.  I told him we'll go soon.  Alan let me work on a wreath for a little bit and I finally got it finished.  I've been working on it a little at a time for several weeks, so it was nice to get it done.

A mug shot of Brad...It looks a lot better today.

Lauren wanted on too....

and so did Jared...you probably can't tell but one of his teeth has started to come in.

Brad helping dye coffee filters a few weeks ago.  We left while they were drying and came back....I thought it looked like we were playing twister.

The bright colors in this stack just made me happy.

Finished.  I might change it just a little (from an angle you can see the tube I used and I didn't cover it), but I really like the way it turned out.  I would have liked to have some green on there, but I wasn't sure how to include it.  All I can think of is a big green bow....any ideas?