Rex(burg) Reunion, 2 Kids, Emma and Joseph's Birthdays

We had an uneventful drive to Rexburg on Thursday, and it was a busy time the whole time we were there.

Friday, the kids did some superhero activities outside before lunch. We had dinner with the Lees. It was freezing outside, but I think it was worth it for the s'mores at the end.

Saturday, we went to Green Canyon to swim, had lunch, and went to Victor to the Heads'. Then, we went to the location of a future reunion spot to plant trees. After getting back to the barn, we had some pizza for dinner.

Sunday, we went to Church as we normally do. I still really like 9:00 with little kids because it gives plenty of time for lunch afterward and naps. I was really exhausted by this point due to not sleeping well for the previous week, so I took a nap too.

Board games happened every day, and I even participated in some. I really like fast-paced, trivia, word, or team games but not really strategy games.

James and I drove home on Monday so he could work this week. We left the older 3 kids at the barn. Tomorrow we leave to meet up with them. It's been nice not to have fighting going on, but it is oddly quiet and weird without the kids. There's still plenty to clean up and too many diapers.

Projects this week: fixed the sprinkler system, put together a bookcase for the kids, made a doll outfit, went grocery shopping using pickup. (I LOVE PICKUP!)

Mara and Ricky had their baby on Tuesday night! Her name is Emma Mae, and she has bright eyes and very dark hair. I'm not sure when I will see her because I don't want to expose her to my germy kids. I'm certain by the 4th of July, though.

Joseph is 9 today! We will give him his presents when we get back from the Head reunion in Albion, which we leave for tomorrow. James is taking a half day at abatement so we can get there not too late. I'll be glad when travel is over for a while.

Pickup, Packing, Awards, Rain

The boys went to the Fathers and Sons campout on Friday and didn't spend the night. James had a meeting the next morning along with work at mosquito abatement. Since they were gone, I tried Walmart grocery pickup for the first time. Another customer caused a lot of problems for them, which caused me to wait for a while, but I am really glad I did pickup! I got the girls in bed and put everything away without feeling burned out from already having been in the store for 2 hours. Despite the wait, it was still a good experience, and I was really impressed with how easy it was to find everything on the website that I needed. If things are as fast as they say they usually are, doing pickup should save me an hour of time every shopping trip. I can also buy as much stuff as I want without worrying about fitting it in the cart, waiting in the checkout line forever, or trying to do self checkout. Staying with 2-week shopping trips should be pretty easy too. I was worried that I'd have to switch to every week because of how much stuff we have to buy now. It's also been hard to find a time to go without kids, so I think pickup is going to solve all of my grocery shopping stress. :)

Now, if only someone could invent teleportation so I can get rid of my travel stress. I've been packing all day so far, doing laundry, and trying to keep the kids from destroying the rest of the house. I haven't slept well in the past week due to slight illness and more than slight stress. Ugh. Doing one long trip wouldn't be any better than two trips back to back, but I'm still dreading leaving after school today. It means a really late arrival and possibly very grouchy kids tomorrow.

On a happy note, Joseph got two awards this week. He reached all of his goals for 3rd grade and received a gold medal. He also won the quiz bowl for third grade. He was really excited to show off both of his medals and plans to take them to Rexburg with us. What can I say? He is a regular nerd like his parents.

Last year was so hot and dry, but this year has been different so far. We've had nothing but cold and rain over the past week, and it shows no sign of letting up. That's a good thing, because one of our sprinkler zones needs some work, so we haven't starting watering the lawn yet. Sometimes I hate that our neighbor has such a perfect lawn. It makes ours look bad even though it's not that bad. However, we still have the gathering place for all the neighbor kids because of how fun our yard is. I guess I'd take that over perfection any day. I always know where my kids are.

Fighting, Busy

The kids have really been on a roll recently. I don't know if it's the warm weather or James being gone at mosquito abatement twice a week, but they are driving me insane. I'll be glad when James is down to one job, because doing both is stressful for all of us. I try to stay busy so I don't get lonely, and that works for the most part. However, it doesn't help the kids at all. It seems like they are constantly at each other's throats. Kenny and Katie are especially bad, but that's nothing new.

The blog is going well, and so is the sewing. As for my weight loss goal, I've decided to use stickers on my calendar and not weigh myself until Samantha turns one. That's only a few months from now. I'm at a point where the scale is just causing me a ton of stress. Slow progress is still progress, but I am too impatient to be happy with it right now. It's still a struggle not to eat when I'm not hungry, but I keep on going anyway. I guess that's the story of my life. Honestly, my eating habits have been a struggle for my entire life, so I can't expect to change everything in just a few months. It might take years to get to a really good spot where being healthy doesn't take so much thought. I have always envied thin/skinny people, and I don't think that will ever change. It just doesn't come naturally to me.

Baby Shower, A Little Sickness, Sewing

Things worked out perfectly with the date and getting the car. Actually, James was at the dentist practically forever but managed to get there to pay for the car in time. We ended up going to the 8:30 showing for the movie, but I somehow survived the next day!

Things went very smoothly for Mara's baby shower. I left around 8:15 and arrived at 11:45. I took a small stop to feed Samantha in there. Breastfeeding has a lot of perks, but being able to leave the baby all day is not one of them! We had chips, salsa, and cheese, as well as tres leches cake. People came and hung out. We played a couple of games after a while and then Mara opened her presents. Altogether, there were 10 people there (counting family). I think everyone had fun, but it can be difficult to tell. I stayed a little while to help clean up, then drove home. Samantha wasn't quite as happy on the way home, but I don't blame her at all. Being stuck in the car for 6 hours isn't so fun.

I've been working on the blog a lot this week. 8 more weeks to go!

Lewis threw up yesterday morning, but he seems fine now. I hope it stays that way, because there is NEVER time for dealing with an illness.

I've also been working on sewing with the big bag of fabric scraps my mom gave me. I like to cut out a bunch of stuff first, sew a lot, then repeat. When I finish this round of stuff, I'll have made 5 pairs of leggings for Katie, a purse (also for Katie), and 11 American girl doll outfits. They are all new patterns, too! Pinterest is an amazing place. I like sewing at night after the kids have gone to bed. It's so much less stressful than trying to keep Samantha entertained or Lewis from dumping things out.

I have officially reached the 50 lb. mark since I had Samantha! That means I'm currently working on between-pregnancies weight. I still have at least 25 to go, hopefully a little more than that. I don't think I have any chance of a flat belly ever again, though. It's not looking too promising, but that's okay. I just don't want to look flabby.

Head Visit, Crazy Schedule

We did the usual stuff with the Heads while they were here: games, eating dinner out once and once here, swimming at the hotel pool, and shopping. I got some new dishes for my birthday! Maybe that sounds lame, but I love the Pioneer Woman stuff so much. I might just have her come take over my kitchen.

Mosquito abatement makes things so crazy. We were going to work in the yard Monday, but it was snowing. Ugh. James did abatement yesterday, and because we need to drop off the big car to get the window fixed that won't roll up, it meant either going shopping with kids or late at night alone. I chose the latter, and I'm really glad. Getting stuff for the baby shower was hard because of the store being rearranged, but I'm not sure it would have been quick before either. Maybe I'll try the grocery pickup soon...

Anyway, James will do abatement today too, but I at least have what I need to get ready for the baby shower. We'll get the Yukon back tomorrow after our date. It's the only way to really do things since we won't all fit in the other car.

The blog is still going well. 9 more weeks!