Sluffers

Today we were sluggers from church.  My sister Kaydee has been needing to get her girls here so I could hem their Prom dresses and she needed to take a couple more pictures of Hallie for Senior graduation announcements, so she got here about 9:30 and we worked in that for a bit which led us to being home for the day.  After I got dresses done, Aleena was hoping for a crepe so I told her I would show her how to make them, so we had a crepe lesson.  They loved it.  They seriously are so easy. We then just had a chill day.  I cooked dinner for once.  It has been a bit crazy around here.  It was nice to just chill.  I did miss going to Young Women’s today and feeling the spirit, but it was nice to have a chill day with my family. 

Spring in Idaho

We are all getting ready to have some warmer weather.  This is what we woke up to on Thursday, icky.  It has been yet another busy week.  My Drama club performs on the 27th so I have spent a lot of my time painting, and getting ready with last minute props and stuff.  We didn’t have school Tuesday due to the Juniors taking the SAT so I held an extra practice from 10-1, and we had Wednesday, Friday and a long 9-2 on Saturday.  It was exactly what we needed. It has been a rough year. I am working on getting a committee for next year so that I don’t get so burned out. I love it, it’s my baby I have built, but it is time to find help.  Erin Hansen stepped in and joined me last year and has really been a life saver.  She does all the costuming.  This year we are doing Alice in wonderland.  Livee is Tweedle Dee. She does a cute job. I have had a few Prom dresses to hem.  I had to say no to a few people and feel awful but I just have to keep my sanity with my busy schedule.  

Grandpa got out his mower for the first time yesterday.  It warmed up just enough to get some yard work done. Brad caught some over time hours.  Heaven knows we need the extra $$.  We usually get a pretty tax return and this year ended up owing $1500.  Ouch.  

Jase has been in heaven.  We let him bring a new dog home.  He is a cute playful dog.  Loves to be by us, hates to be in his pen.  He will get it figured out.  His name is Milo. 

That’s it for this week. 

Back to it

My kids have referenced my blog a handful of times in March and so it really makes me want to pick back up.  I am hoping the app is better than when I used it last, so I can post from my phone.  So this is just a tester, to see how it works.  There is too much to play catch up for now.  
We had an awesome Easter last week.  We were sadly missing Hallie, she was on the BackEast trip.  Having my adult children home with us always makes for an awesome weekend.  Kaydee and Kell and their kids came and joined us.  We just had a day of lounging, eating, the kids playing, and ended with our traditional rice crispy nests.  We have done it with our kids for many years.  I love my little family.  

Back to it

My kids have referenced my blog a handful of times in March and so it really makes me want to pick back up.  I am hoping the app is better than when I used it last, so I can post from my phone.  So this is just a tester, to see how it works.  There is too much to play catch up for now.  
We had an awesome Easter last week.  We were sadly missing Hallie, she was on the BackEast trip.  Having my adult children home with us always makes for an awesome weekend.  Kaydee and Kell and their kids came and joined us.  We just had a day of lounging, eating, the kids playing, and ended with our traditional rice crispy nests.  We have done it with our kids for many years.  I love my little family.  

Scripture power

We are trying to be better at scripture reading every night.  Tonight we decided to snuggle in Hallies's room for reading.  We are trying for 10 minutes of reading.  I know it is hard to squeeze it in but I do see and feel a difference in the attitude around the house when it gets done.  The kids laying there on the floor just was so heart warming seeing them all hanging out.  The peacefulness only lasted a moment until I was whooshing them and telling them to hold still and to follow along.. 

Sunday down time

 A typical Sunday at our house- I have early morning meetings for Young Women 3 out of 4 Sundays.  Hallie takes me to my meetings.  The kids get themselves ready for church.  I honestly am not sure how many other teenagers would do this without a giant fight.  They sometimes get there with wrinkly shirts and scraggly hair but some Sundays they come with hair all fancy and look quite.  When I started having meetings I had to let go of the idea of what everyone may think of my kids coming with their scraggly hair but I am over that and am just super proud that they show up at all. Church starts at 9 am.  We get done at 12.  We come home and have a "whatever you can find" meal.  Because there is something about 3 hours of church that makes you feel like you are famished.  Maybe all that spiritual calories we have burned.  Then we all just chill.  I usually climb into my bed or snuggle on the couch, and the kids find a couch or even get back into their bed and watch their gadgets.  Aunt Kell and kids come a lot of the times on Sundays to hang out.  Today we all took a family nap in my room.  Well Hallie didn't join us.  Brad is out of town so they felt I needed some extra bodies to fill his void.  We watched lots of episodes of the Treehouse Guy.  He is awesome.  I want a treehouse.  We then fix dinner and do any homework.  They don't have a ton over the weekends.  After dinner, I had the kids help me with a 20 minute tidy.  Then we read our 10 minutes of scriptures together.  We go over our calendar for the week, and Have family prayer.  Then chill some more.  We had some extra time before bed so Livee, Aleena and I played a game of Yahtzee.  I truly love my Sundays.  My kids say they are boring but we need a day of boring to recoup for the next week.  There are no stores open here on Sundays, and so it truely is just a day off.  

I remember as a kid, my mom would have a dinner of meat and potatoes, home made rolls every Sunday.  We would walk in from church and it always smelled like a roast was ready.  It was ready within an hour of getting home from church.  I am pretty sure she missed out on half of church to have it all ready for us.  My Grama and Grampa Severe would come to dinner every Sunday.  My Grama would bring a cake with fluffy egg white frosting on it, and she would always make the thickener for the gravy.  I wish I could tell my mom how grateful I was for those meals. I didn't really appreciate them until I knew how much work they really were when I tried to carry on that tradition.  That tradition has died.  I do fix dinner but later in the day.  We only have church at 9 am for the rest of the year then we jump to 11.  I may actually be able to help the littles with hair before my meetings since they won't be so early.  

Brighter Day

The kids did pretty good today.  Jase really didn't want to go to school this morning again, but I forced him to.  I get it.  It is hard to go out and see people because they will talk about it, but I felt he needed to get out, have some fresh air and have school to preoccupy his thoughts.  It was a school day for me.  It was a productive day with the kids.  Drama went well after school.  Aleena had a birthday party, Livee went to a friends, Jase and Hal went to the football game.  I chose to stay home and just chill and watch a movie.  It was so quiet at my house my ears weren't sure how to handle it.  Aleena called and was ready to come home.  She crawled in my bed.  She says "what does depression feel like".  I think she was feeling a bit different today.  

It was a rainy, cool evening and we just are snuggling in bed now.  Brad is settled in Wisconsin and will be back next week.  I am looking forward to sleeping tomorrow.  Good night.