the weekend

Friday was the kid's last day of school before spring break, so they came home very excited to have no more school for a week. After snacks, we went outside (it was a beautiful day) and worked in the garden. We got 2 more rows planted, zucchini, squash and beans. The kids also had fun hunting down ants, and trying to "poison them" them with mud. They got really muddy, but then everybody came in and took baths or showers. We had dinner and went to go see the 7pm showing of Tooth Fairy and the post Theatre. On the drive there, I noticed Joseph saying a rhyme about fingers, and then all the sudden he said the "F" word, with the finger motion with it at the end of the rhyme. I quickly pulled to the side of the road, and turned back to Joseph and with eyes blazing said "what did you say?" Joseph squirmed under my gaze, and finally said(spelling it) F-U- well you get the rest. He hastily told me that a kid at school had taught him it, and it was really catchy and he couldn't stop thinking about it. I told him that it was a really bad word, and he was to never say it again, EVER!!!! If he couldn't stop thinking about it, he could say a prayer or start singing or thinking about a good song he likes. I turned around in my seat, trying to think of an appropriate punishment. I told Joseph we should probably just go home, and he would go straight to bed. All the kids started crying and saying that they had worked really hard in the garden to earn this. That was true, I had told them if they worked really hard in the garden I would take them to see the movie as a reward. It wasn't fair to punish the rest of the kids, so I consented to taking them to the movie as planned. I thought about making Joseph hide under my jacket at the movie so he couldn't see it, but I didn't think that would work. So I told him I was going to wash his mouth out with soap, and he was grounded from all screen time for the rest of the weekend. So we went to see the movie. Samuel fell asleep on my lap half way through, so my legs and arm were asleep by the end of the movie, but it was a fun family movie and we enjoyed it. Saturday we had chores to do, and the kids were getting side tracked constantly, I would get them to work for maybe 5 minutes, and then they would be goofing off, I was getting really tired of reminding them to do their work. Samuel had a birthday party to go to, so I packed all the kids into the van, picked up Samuel's friend Rowan, who was also going to the party, and drove them to the house. We dropped off the little boys, and headed to the "Garden Day" festivities that ft. bliss was holding. It was fun, the kids ate free hot dogs, chips, and lemonade, and we walked around the "old ft. bliss museum" with all these replicas of horses, bulls, shops, barracks, blacksmith, and carpenter shops. It was really neat. They also had a tiny petting zoo, and a garden area with plants and farm fresh eggs, and stuff for sale. I let each of the kids pick out 2 eggs, and paid for them. We got free popcorn, and listened to a band for a little bit, then left to go home. They were also starting a community garden, but we left before they started planting, because we had our own garden at home to plant. So we got back home, and then we headed out once more for Joseph's last golf class. Rowan's mom dropped off Samuel, and we dropped Joseph off at golf. I parked the car and got out, I left the windows open since it was a really nice day. Austin had lost one of her shoes in the van, and I was helping her look for it, when I heard a thunk and Samuel started crying hard. I ran around the van and there was Samuel on the asphalt just below my open window. I cradled him and calmed him down. He told me he was trying to climb out my window and fell, he said his back and and arm hurt, so I checked him out. It looked like his arm and lower back would have some bruises but other then that he looked fine. I told him next time to get out of the van through the door instead of the window. He said "Okay" and was fine after that. We were about to walk down the block to the park to play while Joseph was at golf, when I noticed my back left tire was flat. I had thought the car felt funny when driving it. My heart sank, we didn't have a spare tire. The one that came with the van, didn't work, and I hadn't gotten around to getting it fixed. So I called USAA and told them I needed the van towed to Wal-mart Tire and Lube. We bought our tires there, and they are under warranty. The Tow guy got there just as Joseph was finishing golf. I gave the guy the key and told him I would meet him there. I had called Wal-mart to let them know my van was coming, the guy told me it would be a long wait, and they couldn't start on it, till I got there to sign a work order. The kids and I couldn't ride with the tow truck, so I called my friend Chelsie who lives nearby, and asked her to give us a ride. She came and picked us up. The child care centers were really close by, and now that I knew it was going to take a long time, I decided to see if I could use some of my free childcare hours and drop the kids off. The people were really nice once I told them about my car trouble, and let me drop off the kids. I was so relieved, I wasn't looking forward to spending forever inside wal-mart chasing my kids around. So I got to Wal-mart and the guy had just finished dropping the car off. I got all checked in, and the guy told me it would be about 2 1/2 hours. Whew! I was sure glad I dropped off the kids. So I went inside Wal-mart and bought "the lightning thief" and sat on a bench in front of the pharmacy and read for an hour. Then I shopped around until the car was ready. I hadn't been to the store all week, so I needed to get some things. I was glad we had the warranty, because the tire was unrepairable so they gave me a new tire, all I had to pay for was the new warranty. Now I need to make sure I get that spare tire fixed, so this doesn't happen next time. So I picked up the kids, and headed home. Samuel fell asleep on the way home, and since it was almost bedtime (if I considered the time change coming) and transferred him to bed. Joseph saw the book that I had, and asked me to read it to him. So I read the first couple of chapters to the kids and then put them to bed. I changed all the clocks and went off to bed. I woke up at 6am this morning, and was excited that none of the kids were up yet. I wished I had been able to sleep in, because the kids didn't wake up until almost 8am. I had to hurry and rush the kids to get them all ready on time, and I gave them each a banana and a granola bar to eat on the way. We made it just as they were starting the meeting. The kids were fairly good, I only had to take Samuel out once, and when there was only 5 minutes left in the meeting Samuel spotted his primary teacher (I think he is in love with her) and ran and sat next to her, before I could stop him. She said he was fine, so he sat with her the rest of the meeting. The primary pianist was back from having her baby, so I was able to go to gospel doctrine. It was about Abraham and Issac. I always have a hard time understanding why God would ask Abraham to sacrifice his son. I know that if I would have a hard time if God asked me to sacrifice one of my children, I don't think I could do it. But I guess Abraham had a much closer relationship with God then I do. The teacher brought out several important points of the story, and I think I understand it a little better. The most important part was feeling the spirit. I love feeling the spirit, it feeds my soul and helps me get through the next week. I played the piano in relief society, and while I was playing prelude a lady brought a crying Betsy to me. She held onto me and cried while I finished the prelude. I figured out that while transitioning from sharing time to classroom time, Betsy had lost her shoe and when she tried to go back to get it the primary president wouldn't let her go back probably thinking she was trying to escape, but as soon as she realized Betsy needed her shoe, she probably let her get it, but Betsy was so upset they needed to bring her to me. So Betsy sat on my lap the entire relief society meeting. My legs really fell asleep this time. After it was over we went to get the kids from primary. I think we got out a little late because most of the kids were gone. I saw Austin, and she told me Joseph and Samuel took off outside. So I grabbed Austin and Betsy and went outside, sure enough there was Joseph and Samuel. Grateful Samuel hadn't run into the street (he likes to do that, he told me that if a car comes he'll just duck) I got the kids to the van and drove home. We had lucky charms for lunch ( I know not very nutritious, but I had just bought it from the store and the kids were excited about it). Samuel went down for a nap and we relaxed for a while. I talked to Travis on the phone for about an hour, he seems to be doing pretty good, except he's having trouble with his shoulder again. I read some more of the "lightning thief" to the kids, played the piano, and watched a church movie. I made cheese souffle with our farm fresh eggs, roasted red potato soup, and carrots for dinner. It was yummy! The kids helped clean up after dinner and played until bed time. Joseph and I played mancala after the younger kids went to bed. He beat me every time, I think he may have been cheating, because every time I went to help one of the other kids, he seemed to get an awful lot of marbles on his side of the board. But, we had fun. Well I'm going to go soak in the bathtub now and read a book, and go to bed. I need to get lots of rest, tomorrow starts day 1 of spring break, and I've got to entertain the kids all day long.