Spring Break, 2012.

Ok, who the heck changed blogger! I'm sure it's supposed to make things easier and better but seriously. Annoying. 

So our spring break was pretty low key this year. Actually it's probably pretty low key every year. That's just how we roll. We didn't leave town like most everyone else we knew. The weather was pretty nice the whole week but not warm enough for swimming. The kids hung out with friends and we found a few other things to keep us busy. Poor Aaron was pretty bored most of the week. Pretty much everyone he hangs out with had left town with their families. But he made the best of it by laying on the couch all week watching csi reruns. On Friday afternoon he talked me into a golf cart ride which ended up lasting over 2 hours. We ended up all over the far east side of town. Sadly for him he said it was the highlight of his whole spring break. For me though it was priceless. How often do you just get to hang out with your teenager for hours alone. 

We enjoyed a few trips for treats. Those are always good.

Probably the most fun thing they did was set up a tent in the backyard and sleep outside. The first night they set up a small tent and watched movies on the wall of the house. The next day they got the big tent out and the kids all slept out there a few nights. They had a blast. Who knew simple things could make them so happy.

Spiderman.

So today Aaron text me to say he thinks he was bitten by something and he's got a red bump and it's irritating him. By the end of school its warm and achy and hard a few inches around the spot. I pick him up from school and check it out. He had a meeting he had to go to at the school district so as i am driving him there he's telling me all about this bite. And i realize something...he's pretty sure he's gonna die. Then i realize something else...i'm pretty sure i should have fun with this. So in all seriousness i talk about how he probably won't die cause we caught it fairly early. But some people have lost limbs over spider bites. Or huge chunks of the arm or leg got so infected that they had to dig out and remove that part of the body. And he better watch it close cause if a red line starts forming up his arm then that's the poison heading straight for his heart. But if everything turns out and he's ok then i'd for sure buy him a spiderman suit. As he's getting out of the car for the meeting he says, "i don't care who's in the meeting and what's going on, if i see a red line forming i'm calling for an ambulance." You do that Spidey.

Of course, after the meeting we have to head to urgent care. The wait wasn't too bad well except for the crying/screaming little girl that apparently had seriously painful ear infections but still wasn't hurting bad enough for them to bump her to the top of the priority list. We head back to a room and he has NO patience waiting for the doctor. He's complaining and frankly getting on my nerves. So i start to mention it sounds like his speech is slurring. That pretty much shut him up for a bit. Finally the doctor opens the door and comes in. And let me tell you, for the next 45 seconds we get the best darn care insurance can buy. (a small shout out to the president and his health care crap) So with a "yea looks like something bit you i'll write a couple of prescriptions" she was out before we could blink. Talk about feeling relief. On the way to the pharmacy we got into a discussion about doctor's handwriting. He couldn't tell at all what the prescription said and i told it probably just his vision getting blurred from the poison. He couldn't believe the pharmacist could look right at the paper and read what it said. I'm sure there's probably a whole semester class that they have to take on determining what the doctor wrote. We left with no prescriptions because they were out of stock but will be ready in the morning. Luckily though he is resting comfortably in bed and please bless he will still have his left arm tomorrow.

P.S. i realize that spider bites can be dangerous. So if you've lost a loved one or limb due to a bite, i'm sorry.

Stuco and Aaron.

Aaron has had some pretty cool things happen for him lately. First, he won junior class president for his school for next year. He loves student council so he was pretty happy about that. Second, he got to go to Reno for the state student council conference. There he interviewed and was chosen to be on the state student council board. Now he will get to do quite a bit of traveling this next year for meetings and conferences. This summer he will go to Oklahoma for the national conference. While he was gone to Reno I got kind of sad. I started thinking about him being gone on his mission and this was just a little taste of what it will be like with him not around. But i will say i am way proud of him. He works hard for stuco and he is making a name for himself with some important people.

He was so tired after the trip to Reno. They traveled home overnight on bus so i am sure it's not the best sleep you can get. And i guess i really did get emotional about him growing up cause he suckered me into helping him get the new iPad after he got home. This is his second iPad. Makenzie bought his first one from him. Now my 12 yr old and 15 yr old have iPads and i have yet to own one. That's really starting to tick me off. But anyway, real good job Aaron.

New Pool.

The new pool up the street from us is finally done. It seems like it took them forever to build it. The inside pools have been open for a month or so now but the outside pool won't open until memorial day. A couple of weeks ago though they had a grand opening event and all the pools were open. I took the girls and friends up there and they had a blast. I think (hope) they spend a lot of time there this summer. Can't wait to send them up there when they are getting on my nerves! Plus, the view of the city is beautiful.

Fun With The Hollingworths.

One Sunday, after church, we were racing the hollingsworths home. I ended up parking in their driveway so they couldn't get in. So we invited ourselves in and started raiding their kitchen for dinner. Before you knew it, we spent the whole evening there laughing eating having a good time. Some of the nerds spent time on their laptops and the girls played in makeup. It was a lovely time.

Then this happened and we all got sick and left...
The end.

10 Years.

This year our elementary school is celebrating being open 10 years. Somehow i ended up heading up a committee to plan the celebration. We ended up combining the celebration with Nevada Reading Week. Each day was a different spirit day and one day we decorated the school with balloons and handed out party favors and treats to all of the students and the whole school sang happy birthday. We also planned an adult party for all that had ever worked at the school. It turned out to be a great event and it was fun seeing so many people I haven't seen in a while. My kids snuck up at the end so they could see two of their favorite people. Their best ever science teacher, Mrs. Grimes and their best ever principal, Mr. Boles. We love these two and miss them being at the school.

Where's Malldo.

At the beginning of March the youth played Where's Malldo for the combined activity. Aaron had asked me a couple of weeks earlier to help. Little did I know i would be half dead when it was time to play. He had already had couple of people cancel on him at the last minute so i decided to tough it out and play. I didn't go all out with my costume like i had planned but i threw an old lady wig and glasses on and called it good. So the plan is those of us that are dressed up hang out in the mall and groups of the kids try to find us and get us to sign off. Well i pretty much coughed my brains out while sitting there but i was glad that i went. Although i came home and completely crashed for the next 24 hours.

A close up of me while we waited and Tracy and Jenna with Steve after it was all done.

Steve and Chuckie. They didn't dress up but did take the opportunity to eat dinner while the rest of us played.

Richard by far got the award for going all out. Totally the ugliest "woman" in the mall that night.

Complete March Madness.

To say this past month has been nuts would be such an understatement. March madness has had nothing to do with basketball around here. I started out the month with a strict schedule for myself. After all, it's yearbook season. I have to stay very scheduled and organized or else i go crazy. On the second day of the month i took Makenzie back to the dr and got her on another antibiotic to help her finally kick the flu/bronchitis she had. It only took her a day or two to finally start feeling normal again after 3 weeks of being sick. That was the good news. The bad news...i woke up the next morning feeling like i was getting sick. I tried to stay positive through the weekend and talk myself out of being sick. It didn't work. Sunday night it hit and it hit hard. I pretty much went to bed and stayed there miserable. So for the next 10 days I suffered through what i am pretty sure was the flu. I refused to go sit in a drs office for him to tell me i had the flu and since i already had all kinds of meds including an antibiotic i decided to self diagnose myself and even prescribed my own meds. Being sick pretty much knocked my strict schedule to the curb. When i finally joined the real world again i went straight to yearbook land. And, it's been nonstop since then. I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and tomorrow will be my final day of picture taking at the school. Then that baby is in the mail heading to the printers. Since i've been at the school so much i captured a few pictures of Alexa. First is of her giving her report on Lyndon B. Johnson. This is her second report she has had to do this year. Her first was on sea turtles. She gets very nervous and forgets most of what we practice at home. Second picture is of her making butter in class. It also happened to be crazy hair day. Next is of her and some of her teammates on jersey day. And last is of her getting a soaring eagle award. She also got eagle of the week this month but i think that picture is on my phone.

Next goal is to catch up on this here blog.

This Week.

Well when the girls decide to get sick, they are serious about it. These pictures of the two them pretty much illustrates how our entire week has gone. Finally Tuesday night they went to the doctor and both have the flu. No school so far this week and i doubt they will be going tomorrow. You can just imagine how fun my week has been. I certainly am not mad at them for being sick but seriously i'm considering stabbing my eardrums right out if i have to listen to any more coughing. It has been nonstop between the two of them. The only thing more annoying has been Aaron spraying lysol nonstop. Today they seem to be feeling a little but better but they're worn out and tired. And still coughing.

Our 4 day weekend didn't exactly turn out to be a fun one. Aaron managed to get in some fun with friends. His friend, Alec, came over on Monday and helped him pull some of the weeds that have completely taken over our yard.

We didn't even ask him to pull the weeds. I had already planned on hiring someone to take care of it. I looked outside and there he was working. Now don't get me wrong, he's a good kid. But, he typically doesn't just volunteer for big jobs like pulling mountains of weeds. I'm guessing it had a little something to do with his early birthday surprise. A car. He was way surprised. Now he's just gotta get his license. Looks pretty good.

So Far In February.

This month is almost gone and it seems like it just started. It's been a pretty busy month so there hasn't been much time for blogging or taking pictures or keeping up. I did manage to capture some pictures of a few things which is good since that's how i remember what has happened.

We've had some sickies this month. Alexa was sick for a couple of days with some stomach bug. She missed church and a day of school. Now Makenzie and Alexa have coughs, fevers, chills and the list goes on. They both stayed home from church yesterday and they're so mad this is ruining their 4 day weekend. But at least they're not missing school and having make work up.

We finally got new family room furniture. We went to rc willey to get a brown leather sectional i had been eyeing for a while. We walked around just to make sure that was what we wanted before committed and we came across this charcoal gray leather sectional. Well we both loved it and changed our minds right then and there. It looks perfect with the new paint colors.

One Sunday after church all five of us were hanging out in the family room and i realized we were all in our own worlds on our electronic devices. At least we were all in the same room, that counts right.

The girls and I got to attend Jordan's 2nd birthday. She had an elmo party that was so ridiculously cute. Alexa assigned herself to be Jordan's personal assistant for the day and Makenzie was Jackson's buddy. Alexa also thought she was too cool for the cute sesame street shirt Amy made.

We had literacy night at the school. Alexa got to read her mystery paper from g.a.t.e. to the audience. She was way nervous but she volunteered to go first. Maybe just to get it over with.

We watched the super bowl at the Bowdens. While we were getting all of the food ready i snapped a picture of the teens at the table. All of them deep in homework. What party animals. We had a good time eating and talking and we did catch the halftime show. Then we ended the night with homemade pizookies. Yep, good party.

There were lots of ideas floating around for valentines cards this year. We ended up going with the mustache. I snapped a picture of Alexa with a mustache on then threw together a card on Sunday night. Picked them up from costco and grabbed mustaches from party city on Monday and we put them together that night before valentines the next day. Funny thing is we decided on the idea months ago. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.
Alexa's class made these cute owl valentine's bags. So glad that Tracy Jensen has been put in charge of holiday crafts! She does the cutest ideas. Jenna also got the girls matching valentines shirts. Tyler had already left when someone suggested i get a picture. I should think quicker!

For valentines we didn't really make plans. We didn't do gifts for each other since we just got a new tv for our room. The whole family ended up at macayos for dinner after running some errands. Well that about does it. Pretty good catch up is i say so myself. And, i say so.

Birthday Events.

We had a couple of celebration for Kenz's birthday this past week. On her actual birthday, last sunday, we went to the brinks for dinner. Nathan and Kaylee also have a birthday the same week so they all celebrated together. We enjoyed taco salads and lots of laughs and fun. The three birthday cuties...

On Friday Kenz had some friends over and we planned a scavenger hunt. We did a video scavenger hunt and afterwards watched all the videos. I kinda felt bad i hadn't planned a real party so at the last minute i put a little effort into it and set up a little chocolate fountain and treats. I also turned the scavenger hunt into a competition. We ordered pizza and after watching the videos the kids all played some night games.