Where the Cows Stink!

Sorry for missing a week. We've been really busy in our house and school has trumped blogging lately.
Funny thing from last week (since I don't remember most of it!) We had attended Ryan Bakers wedding open house (which was wonderful) and on the drive home there was a section of the drive that smelled profoundly like cows. stinky stinky cows. From the back row Eliza chimes in: "Mommy, 'Layna STINKY! please change her!" classic!
Other important info from last week: Alayna is officially free standing and taking 1-2 steps at a time! I'm worried that I'm not going to ever be able to keep up with her from now on. Doomed!

This past week: We all ran around all week long. The last time I remember being this busy with 100 places to be was back in high school. I have a whole new appriciation for what my poor mom put up with all those years with 8 kids different schedules AND I don't even have any kids in school yet!

Monday was spent running around doing errands.
Tuesday was filled with cleaning. more cleaning. laundry and such prep for play group that was being hosted at my house that week. Ben was home that day which was lots of fun! And for a few hours we were lucky enough to have Gretel (3) and Jack(1 mo) Demartin which was a blast! Eliza just loves having friends so much!
Wednesday my wonderful visiting teachers came to visit and brought some awesome peach jam and homemade bread. Between us three girls at home there was no bread left before Ben got home! Yum!
Thursday I was able to go be of service for the Fourmile Fire victims. I spent 5 hours at the donation center hauling and loading boxes of cloths, shoes, and all the other wonderful things that people donated for the families. Grandma Merritt did her service by watching my girls (they love their grandma's so much!).
Friday was spent hosting playgroup. I successfully got the house cleaned up before everyone came and by the end of the evening there was not a single toy (reachable by the average 3 yr old) that was not pulled out and all over the floor! I was really glad to see the girls have so much fun I had a lot of fun playing with them and Alayna slept like a rock after all the commotion settled down which was great!
Saturday was a trip to Loveland to take pictures of the Ausmus kids. The weather was really not agreeing with us there was a constant drizzle all morning long, and it was bitter cold so the kids took turns getting out of the warm car to take pictures! But in the end it made some cute shots! Eliza and Alayna went with Grandma and Uncle Alan to his eye doctor apt. and were appropriately shown off in their adorableness! That evening we had the adult session of stake conference so we (being the responsible parents we are) arranged for the girls first ever babysitter that wasn't related to them! Eliza seemed to have fun. Alayna may have made poor Katie wish she hadn't agreed to keep her by the end but they all survived so no biggy!
Sunday has been good. It's time to attack the last bits of homework and hopefully pass this round of classes!

The JELLY!

What a little princess! Lady Gaga's got nothing on this kid!

Someone was NOT interested in kisses!

Eliza enjoying the Zuccini bread I made... Yum!

Bug's getting her hair cut at the salon by Aunt Abby!

She thought it was the coolest treat ever to visit her Aunt! and gett her hair cut and glitter in her hair was just an extra perk. We love Abby!

Whew!

It's been a fun but really busy week

We started with picking plums in the morning and juicing them for making some yummy plum jelly. I just so happen to be lucky enough to have in-laws that have a wonderful plum tree that is seen as about as useful as my parents crabapple tree: a massive lawn mover mishap in the making! I on the other hand LOVE plums so I figured I would be of assistance and sure them of their plum problem! Following that I got my hair colored by Abby on (it looks fabulous!) The girly's played at Grandma Merritt's house while I was at the salon. Grandma Lael came with me and Abby did her eyebrows while my hair was working.

Tuesday was NOT such a fun day. Eliza woke up in tears. She'd been really lathargic and tired since last friday when she got sick at playgroup but other than that she seemed fine. Well apparently she wasn't really fine after all. She threw up that morning but I HAD to get the car licenced that day (last day before extra fees) so I cleaned her up and stuck her in the car to go do the emmisions test. We made it about a block away from our house before she threw up all over my car, the back of my seat, her seat, the floor, etc. At that point I turned around unloaded the girls and called Grandma to come sit with my sick kids while I took care of the car stuff. Thankfully no more puking that day.

Wednesday Eliza still didn't seem top notch but she fell asleep that morning and slept from 10:30-2:00 and woke up perfectly healthy and normal again. (THANK GOODNESS!)

Thursday Eliza and Alayna played at Grandma Merritt's house (gosh we sure spent a lot of time there this week I hope we don't wear out our welcome!) Eliza got to play with her friend Rebecca and Grandma Lael, Abby, and I all went to the Celestial Seasonings factory tour. I loved it and got some tea I was wanting as well!

Friday Eliza had playgroup. I ran errands with Alayna then we had a meeting for my new calling on the RS committee (aka:enrichment) at grandma Merritt's house So Alayna had a nap there. I ended up leaving Alayna while she slept and took Eliza with me to look for some new picture frames (no luck! sad day) But we did find a little chiar that will be part of their Christmas this year! We went to dinner with the Merritt's to celebrate Uncle Evan's birthday which was lots of fun Eliza and Aunt Mallory danced on the stage at the mexican place we went out too it was SOO cute I'll have to get the video from Evan at some point!

Saturday was spent cleaning. Ben took on the garage and I took on the house. The girls spent the day playing outside until it got too hot and Alayna was a cooked little monkey! I got brave and made a new zuccini bread recipie (yummy!) and made my first ever attempt at making my own jelly. The bread was amazing. The jelly resulted in a poor judement call: I used too small of a pan and boiled over. Therefore BURNING jelly all over my stove, down to the floor, and just about every corner of my kitchen is sticky. The good news is that our smoke detector works very well. Ben helped me clean up but I'm still finding sticky spots all over. The second batch didn't result in such a mess and I've learned my lesson! Bigger IS better when it comes to jelly!

Sunday it was a good Sunday. I'm tired and thinking that maybe I'll be more of a parent this week seeing as how it seems that the poor Merritt's got stuck watching my kids half the week! Thanks a million to them I don't honestly know how I would have made it through this challenging of a week without them!