Finishing up the school year

Things at my house are in even more chaos than usual (difficult to believe, I KNOW!).  This is because we simultaneously ripped the tiles off of both bathrooms and that means—every bathroom article is stored in a box.  Somewhere.  At some (fabulous future) point in my life, I will have my house totally clean and organized BEFORE I start construction projects, and end up with the contents of all cupboards, as well as all the tools AND all of the construction supplies piled willy-nilly on top of the existing detritus.  Not yet, though!

The excellent news is that the downstairs bathroom is 95% done.  Only a tiny bit of trim work and detail needs finished up.  In the upstairs bathroom, the tile is gone, the old tub is gone, the old plaster and lath are gone, the window is gone, the new vent/light is installed, the new waterproof drywall is up, the plumbing is in, and the tub is installed (but not hooked up).  Next week: The bathtub surround, hooked up plumbing, new faucet & shower head, install the wainscoting on the walls, install the new floor, install the toilet, install the new sink & vanity and the new linen closet.  Yep—awesome!

Dad has gone to PA to do some handymanning for my dear Aunt, and he will bring BigGirl back with him.  All reports are that she has had a great time learning to quilt with my aunties.

I spent Mother’s day mostly just with SmallDaughter, since BigGirl was in PA, and LargeBoy was at Great Wolf Lodge with the friends, but my sweet hubby drove home after work (he got in around 9pm) to spend time with me (he left at 4 am), which was super sweet.

Last week was a big one for WonderDog—he had his annual checkup from the Vet (doing great!), got his vaccinations, and then he had a total makeover at the groomers.  He looks so sleek with his new haircut—it was getting VERY long and shaggy!  Also, the cat got spayed.  She is the last of our female cats to go in, so no baby kitties for a while.  We will have to be content with the mere 8(ish)  cats that are bumming around here.

On Wed, I had a bad mama moment (or several!) on the day SmallDaughter’s class went on a fieldtrip to see a Toledo Mud Hens game. It was our last regular class day of Seminary (I am afraid the book of Revelation got rather short shrift!), and I forgot she was going, so I didn’t have a lunch packed, and had to just send money.  I was running late getting her dressed, so no sunblock or hat (she did not fry, luckily!), and when I went to pick her up, I went to her usual school and waited for 20 minutes, before a teacher realized they were at THE OTHER SCHOOL—so I was a half hour late getting her.  Big sigh.  I drove straight back, picked up the boys for Scouts fed them fast food, and drove to the other town (one is 25 miles north of our house, the other is 25 miles south.  We live--not close to anything.  Not kidding!).  Not a shining star day.  There was no Faith in God Girls (they only meet the 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th Wednesdays), so while SmallDaughter played in the nursery, I began the much needed purge of the toy boxes.   I dropped 2 trash bags off at goodwill, 1 to the garbage, and have one that is to give away to kids we know.  There will be several more purges in the coming moths, too!

All the boys “slept” at our house on Thursday night, and Friday morning, we got up at 5, got SmallDaughter & everybody else dressed, and went into town for the Bishopric Breakfast for the end of Seminary.  We got home in time to take everybody to school, in spite of the crazy fog that had rolled in while we were there.

After school, everybody (plus Sam K) came back over to our house for LargeBoy’s (long delayed) birthday party!  We played Michigan Bankroll, Scattergories and Ticket to Ride, and he loved his gifts, which included: an order of 3 lbs of random legos (not a specific set) from ebay, a plush death star, a new scout uniform, 2 pairs of flannel pajama pants, “Captain Jules Amazing Telescope Ring”, a great pocket watch from Sam K, and a ukulele—which he is decorating beautifully, and sounds really good on.

On Saturday, SmallDaughter & I took Sam K home, and we stopped to ride the carousel, and I told her we only had 2 tickets, so we would to “1 then 2 rides, then go home”—(we have been working on first—then concepts”)  She was excited until we got to the “then go home” part of the plan.  She had a MAJOR tantrum all the way home.   LargeBoy went to the Zoo with Miss I. and her crew, so I put grouchy girl to bed and spent the evening by myself, cooking food for Seminary Graduation. 

On Sunday, LargeBoy had a mandatory hike for the Jamboree, so it was just SmallDaughter & I at church.  It was very nice—Luke (who is SmallDaughter’s new helper) spoke, and she kept waving to him, which made him smile, but he didn’t lose his train of thought!  Sister C did a really cute Primary Sharing Time on tithing, and she wanted to show the kids how much easier it is to pay it first, not last.  She had me sit in front, and gave me 10 fruit snacks, and told me I had to give her one when she came back.  So there I was, jamming fruit snacks in my mouth, talking about how yummy they were, as the kids counted them—when I got to 9 they all started to say “Don’t eat the last one!”—and I said “it would be so yummy, I am so hungry, etc.”  I licked it a couple of times, too!  The kids were very involved, which was super cute!—“NO—Don’t eat that!”.  Then she gave me another 10, and had me give her one right away, and they could see how much easier it was!  It was a very good lesson—the only problem was the fruit snacks were pretty old, and I had a hard time getting them all chewed!

After church, I took SmallDaughter over to dear Aunt A’s house, then I went down to Columbus for Stake Seminary Graduation. The powers that be had asked the other teacher from our 2 ward split seminary & I to be in charge of the refreshments (for over 200 people!)—and to have them NT themed.  It ended up turning out well—mostly because of MAJOR prayers, and the help of a super sweet Brother & Sister from another ward, who also brought LOTS of bread.  We asked our seminary families to contribute bread—any kind—so we had yummy pumpkin, apple, zuchinni, etc, as well as homemade white, French and herb savory breads.  Poor Kathy had business meetings in Missouri all week, so she volunteered to get everything we needed from Sam’s Club.  We also had little cards with each item that read:

BREAD:

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. John 6:51

Candy Corn Symbolizes: SEED

Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness. 2 Corinthians 9:10

Pretzels Symbolize: REVERENCE

The history of the pretzel dates back to 600 AD when a monk in the area between France and Italy was playing with dough left over from the daily baking. While he was playing he came up with a unique twist that looked like arms crossed in prayer. This baked "pretiola" was given to children as a reward for their reverence.

Gold Fish & Swedish Fish

And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. Mark 6:41

WATER

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 4:13-14

(We had little cups with blue pudding and a little sour patch kid on it*)

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. Matthew 14:29

BUTTER & HONEY

Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. Isaiah 7:-15

My pudding ended up being a little curdled and not very pretty, but they ate it anyway!  Truly it was a miracle of loaves and fishes—I was pretty worried about having enough, and we ended up perfect—we ran out of most things, and only had 1 ziplock of sliced bread left!

Monday was SmallDaughter’s last day of riding for this session—and it was meltingly hot.  She will start again  in mid-June.  It was also the local High School’s Choir Concert.  Friend A.  asked LargeBoy to make a poster of a “Santa Mammoth”—apparently one of the girls had a dream in which the choir director wanted them to sing louder than fortissimo—and that level of sound is called “Santa Mammoth”!  It turned out SUPER CUTE, and they held it up during the final number.  Quite a few of the choir kids knew the story of the dream, so it went over really well!

Tuesday was a fun Library Board of Trustees meeting, where we had fun—we officially began the makeover of our library building!  New paint, carpet, furniture, and everything rearranged.  It will be awesome!  It won’t be done until Aug, though!