Cousin Chaos, Swimming, and Secret Service

This past weekend we had Adam and Amy's three girls staying with us so it has been pretty crazy. The kids had a great time playing together. I loved seeing Austin and Bella playing their own game, or Olivia and Tess, since these aren't the usual pairings. It was loud, naturally, with 6 kids under the age of 8, but they played together nicely and I kept it together (for the most part). There were a few times I had to get loud just to get everyone's attention (the noise level was HIGH) so I used one of Austin's teacher's tactics- "1,2,3 eyes on me!" Amazing how fast the results were- they were all quiet immediately. The next thing that followed was, "Go to sleep!" And they finally did... about 9:30. Church on Sunday was way easier than I expected. We tried to separate each child by an adult and that worked pretty well. It was cute to see Megan go to class with Olivia, Bella with Austin, and Tess with Mom (since she's the teacher of that class). They were so excited to have their cousins with them at church.



Today, Mom took all the kids out to a fun place called Kid's Barn and they had a blast. It's a big warehouse filled with like 8 or 9 huge jumping castles and slides. They jumped and ran around for a couple hours then Amy met us there and took the girls home.



Ashley couldn't get enough of this place. She never fails to surprise me with her gusto for life and her lack of fear, for anything. She was right in there with the big kids, climbing up the ladders and sliding down the huge slides. She wasn't about to miss one bit of this exciting place. She kept saying, "Mom, slide again!" and "Fun!" Wow, to have such energy, what would that be like?



I was able to run over to REI while they were jumping to have a look around. We got our annual dividend a while back and I haven't had a chance to go do some shopping. We didn't spend a whole lot last year so it wasn't huge... but I did find a running visor that I am looking forward to using. I paid 10 cents for it. That's right. 10 cents. That might be a record for me!

After we got home, Austin practiced piano and the girls vegged out watching TV. About 5 pm, Austin and I left for his swim lesson at the community rec center. I had planned to get him into the swim camp going on this week but alas, my procrastination got the best of me and registration filled up! I ended up calling and talking to the swim coach and planned a private lesson instead. I just wanted to make sure he was ready for the swim team which starts in June. The tryouts are next week and they have to be able to do 3 different strokes for 25 m across the pool. So we met Cameron, the coach for age 7-10, at the pool and Austin jumped in. He started out by asking him to swim 25m freestyle. He did very well, breathing to the side and good form. Then he had to do 25m backstroke. Again, he did well. Next was breaststroke. I was a little worried b/c he has just recently learned this one. As soon as he started, the coach looked up at me with a big smile and gave me the thumbs up. Austin had the whole froggy-legs down and was doing great. (This meant that he completed 3 strokes and would make the team). Just for kicks he asked Austin to do butterfly back across the pool and to my amazement, Austin did quite well considering he hasn't practiced that one at all. I didn't even know he could do it. I was so proud of Austin. The coach came over to me at this point and said Austin definitely made the team and therefore had no reason to come to try outs. He gave me a paper inviting Austin to be a part of swim team. I tried to really praise Austin and help him to understand that this was a big accomplishment for him and that he had done a fantastic job. We stopped on the way home so he could choose a little reward for his hard work. He got a Krispy Kreme donut.



Later that evening, we had Family Home Evening, led by Olivia. She just loves to be in charge of the lesson and she is so cute about it. During dinner, when I asked her to prepare a story or something to share, she ran off excitedly and I didn't think another thing about it. So when we came downstairs to start our lesson, she was standing there- ready. She had a pile of pictures she had drawn and an Ensign magazine. She told us a funny story about a mother who wouldn't let her daughter go to her friend's house, wouldn't let her daughter go to church, wouldn't let her go home, wouldn't let her help Papa plant flowers in the garden. Now, I am not sure exactly what the point of this lesson was. You can guess I was a little worried about what this fictional mother was going to do/say next!




Well she ended there and then I told the kids about the story of Lazarus, the 10 lepers, and some other stories of Christ healing and helping people. We read Mosiah 2:17 which says that "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are in the service of God". We talked about what service is and how it's a gift we give people, and how we show love. I told them that this week we're going to do "Secret Service". We made a chart and I told the kids that all through the week they need to look for ways they can serve one another and help around the house, in secret. When they do, they are supposed to mark it on the chart. So the chart has each person's name in our family. We soon finished FHE and the next thing I know, Olivia is creeping out of her room to grab my flip flops and put them in my closet. So cute. A while later, I couldn't find her as Austin and Ashley were brushing teeth. I called a few times as we put pj's on and got ready for bed. Finally I was frustrated and called again. I went into the other room to look, then into our room, and this is what I found:



Olivia was making our bed! It was so cute to see her wrestling with the big fitted sheet, trying to put it on by herself. That's hard for some adults to do. She had been in there the whole time (at least 10 minutes) trying to make my bed in secret. I grabbed my camera (of course) and almost cried at this adorable display- she GOT it! I really didn't think they were paying much attention as we talked about it, but here she was, putting it into action. Soon after she finished, she ran upstairs to put Nana's shoes in her closet, then put Papa's fruit bowl in the dishwasher. Austin also ran to find some things to do and both were so excited to mark it down on their chart. Austin then said, "Mom, can I read Ashley a story?" Ah, how I wish every day was like this.

This all made me very happy b/c my day started off SO bad. I was in a horrible mood, mainly b/c my cycle has gone on for TWO weeks now. My dr. put me on a new Pill which is messing with my body. It's supposed to be making my body more normal, however we apparently have to wait for my body to 'adjust'. I called the nurse this morning and this is what I was told. Ok, right, wait. UGH! And men wonder why us women are so grumpy and whiny about our hormones, cycles, and girly stuff. This is why! It's miserable. Hopefully there will be an end soon. Sorry if that's too much info (I'm telling it like it is) but it's really putting a damper on things lately. Hence the reason the swim team news and my children doing service really picked me up.