Our Family: Week of 2/3-2/9

On Monday, I looked at our schedule and realized for the first time in months, we had no doctor appointments for the entire week.

What!

So, Mike made good on that Mexican lunch he had promised me (that was supposed to happen after my "last" doctor appointment before I had Sam), and we went out.

Josh, Mike and I had fun... but we still haven't found good Mexican food in Vegas.

That night for Family Home Evening, we put together Valentine-themed gingerbread houses, with the supplies my Mom left us (we didn't have time to make them with her while she was here).

Thanks, Mom!

Afterward, Mike hurried off to go sleep (he works nights Sundays and Mondays, along with his day job at D.I.), and I left to take care of Sam.

Grace made me the sweetest note ever:

Josh went ahead and decorated the cupboards with the leftover candy and frosting:

Later, I went to clean it off and he asked that I leave his "decorations" on until after Valentine's Day.

So, I am.

***

On Tuesday we went to Adam's (last... sad!) Blue & Gold Banquet + cake auction.

And my camera wouldn't work, darnit!

He made a delicious Texas Sheet cake to auction off... and we won this one:

(Camera worked the next day, of course).  ;)

***

On Wednesday we had cheer practice.

I tried timing it really well, so that Sam wouldn't need to nurse until after it was over.

It worked!

Grace and the other cheerleaders are perfecting a darling dance that they are performing at the art gala next Saturday.  It's super-cute!  (Hopefully, I can record it).

Mike had mutual that night.

Sam likes to crazy-eat from about 5:00 to bedtime, which makes dinnertime tricky.

So, I went ahead and did something horrible called: macaroni & cheese with frozen corn dogs for dinner.

The kids were thrilled.

I can't say the same for Mike.

;)

***

On Thursday my camera officially died.

Sad!

I got the kids to school, Mike to work, took care of Sam + Josh, and got back to school on time to pick up the kids.  They even all had jackets because it was raining.

I was pretty happy and feeling like a decent Mom, until Adam ran out and informed me it was his turn to take home the class pet, Cosmo the white tree frog.

Again.

And that he was out of food.

Again.

So I got to haul Sam and a large aquarium down the street, while threatening Grace and Josh to stay close to me while we walked.

It kinda sapped the good-Mom feelings from me.

***

On Friday, with the Olympics happening, I thought it would be fun to learn about Russia.

We are supposed to use Fridays for learning, projects, homework, etc.

I normally use them for park fun and grocery shopping.

But, I decided (with learning about China last week and all), we are going to have Foreign Friday from now on... because I'm nerdy like that.

We learned, and made beef stroganoff and blini (Russian crepes) for dinner.

We sat down excited to watch the Olympics, until we remembered that we don't get NBC.

(We don't watch TV at our house, apart from a little PBS for Josh and our Saturday movie night.  It works best for us.  I thought it would just take some antenna-moving, but apparently, we just can't get NBC).

Darnit!

And it's not even online, which is lame!

We had a fun night of Russian food anyways.

***

On Saturday, Mike had the day off, so we ran errands and cleaned and watched Grace cheer at a volleyball game.

That night, we watched Hercules (in honor of the Olympics) and had frozen pizza.

We headed to a park, because the kids have been dying to ride their bikes somewhere other than around our house and neighborhood, and the park has a nice walking/riding path. 

It was beautiful, and the perfect way to end our day.

[Hives update: Still itchy arms/back/stomach... rash on arms/back.  But, I decided to switch to Allegra (I was taking Zyrtech) and Zantac (which is a H2 antihistamine... in case you ever wondered).  And it seems to be helping the itch.  Wahoo!]