We kicked off our week by going to see my friend, Chelsea Bulkley, for haircuts. It's taken me a month, but I finally arranged to have those little interesting haircuts fixed. For Brooke, we just evened everything out and cut her hair to shoulder length. I think she looks cute with whatever haircut, but I really like this one, I think. It's pretty cute on her.
I had Chelsea take a look at Camille's hair, but we decided together that her little bangs were too short to do anything with, and that it'd be a bad idea to try to even them out. She did try to do some side-swipey little things, to blend it up a bit better in the front. And she trimmed a tiny bit off the back. But I think mostly, for Camille, we're just going to have to wait until her hair grows out a little more.
But the next day, I put her hair up in the cutest ever little girl ponytail, and I just couldn't handle how cute she was! It only lasted about half the day until it started falling out and looking funny again. What can you do with a little girl's fine hair?!?
Monday night, we went to Sharky's for dinner. I'm not sure if I've written about this. But there is a family in our ward, the Ellis Family, who have a little baby girl with brain cancer. I have hung out with Brittany several times, mostly in group settings, and I really like her. Her little Elisabeth went to a well-baby visit for her 15 month appointment, and the doctor found something suspicious and sent them to get a scan. They found a tennis-ball sized tumor in her head, partially connected to her brain. They went in to get the tumor out and only succeeded in getting 1/3 of it. She's going through a bunch of rounds of chemo now, and they whole thing is so sad and scary. But the ward and lots of people from the stake have really drawn together as we watch and pray and help this family. It is really the coolest thing to see. As members of the church, we're taught to serve and help each other and those around us. And mostly, we go about things very quietly, as we try to fulfill this mandate. But it's inspiring, really, to watch it work on a much bigger scale, when something like this happens. There've been ward fasts for them; lots of prayers; posting on FB for help and things that are needed; donations of toys, comfort items, money, gift cards, blood, milk, anything needed; dinners made and brought to them; visits to the hospital; service projects and bake sales to raise money. It's really amazing! Well ... so, back to what I was writing before. We went to Sharky's for dinner because they were having a special fundraiser. All day, anyone coming in to eat for Elisabeth, 20% of their profits would go to Elisabeth. We went around 5 or 5:30 and it was a madhouse! There were so many people there, the line went all through the restaurant almost to the back. There were a ton of people from our ward, it just felt like a big ward party! And we ate right next to the Garrisons and Erdmanns. It was pretty fun, actually.
I was teaching joyschool this week ... again. I've definitely done more than my fair share since Christmas. BUT ... I'm going to be bowing out at the end of next month, so I call it all even. ANYWAY, ... we had a fun week for Joyschool. Tuesday, we had a quick lesson at the beginning, some free playtime, and then I dropped Camille off with Hillary and took the boys and Brooke for a visit to the library. It was all about asking questions and discovering and learning new things. They had a good time at the library, and they were all really good! They went to pick out some books to read, I took them over to the section where they keep the nonfiction books, and we read some books, and they got to pick one out to take home with them. I showed them how to check books out, and we watched the cool video screen as we slid some books down the return slide, and then we went and sat on a bench outside for snacks. I took them home after that. I had a pretty good time with them, and I think they enjoyed it as well.
Daniel's been working at the office this whole week (or from home, a couple of days), which means he goes in to work REALLY EARLY with Brandon Hebdon, and then comes home really early, too. It's been kind of nice for the girls and I to get to see him a little bit more than usual. So Tuesday night, when Daniel got home from work, we had dinner and family home evening, altogether!!
Wednesday morning, the girls and I went early to the park for a little Sports Club (Hillary Erdmann has put this together; we meet at the park, she spends about 20 minutes with the kids going over some aspect of a sport, and they practice and play together, and then have playtime at the park). I was watching Lilee Mapp that morning, and we just hung out at the park all morning, doing Sports Club and playing at the park. Funny little Camille didn't do much playing. I swung her on the swings for a little bit, and she went down the slides a few times. But mostly she just hung around me. I'm sorry to say that after a short time, I was a little bugged. When we go to the park, especially if we are going with friends, then I sort of want her to be on her own, playing, exploring and being a kid. She has been going through this phase for a while, where she seems a little shy and clings to me a ton when we are around a lot of people. Even if it's people she knows and has been around a lot. I really shouldn't get irritated. I know there will come a day very soon when she's off playing with friends and completely ignore her mom, and I'll miss the days when she liked hanging around me. And, truth be told, it's pretty sweet that she likes to be with me. I like being with her too. Next time, I'll welcome having her hang around me and always asking me to play. It's so sweet and cute.
Thursday, the day before St. Patrick's Day, I was doing preschool again, and it was a completely epic day of preschool!! Here's what we did:
- a short lesson about questions and learning and discovering
- a magic lesson, put on by the Great Leslini (I practiced a few magic tricks the night before, and it's a good thing little kids are so easily entertained and impressed, because, it wasn't all that good...)
- made biscuits and butter!!
- painted for our art project
- had a sneaky visit from a leprechaun, who left some treasure for the kids after a little scavenger hunt for them
That evening, I had a babysitter come, so that I could drive down to LA and meet Daniel for our fancy date. He won a gift card to a fancy french restaurant in LA, called La Patina. And we figured we had better go before this baby comes! It was a lot of fun, and definitely not something we'll do again. We chose the 3 course dinners for $85 a person!! The food was really good, and I thoroughly enjoyed what we had (we shared everything, so we could try more stuff). And it was fun having the experience of going to a fancy french restaurant. The servers were very on top of things and vigilant and gracious. I felt very out of place there; like, just walking it, it felt like everyone who worked there could just tell that I never go to expensive restaurants. But we had a good time. It was a once in a lifetime experience for us!!
I was kinda lame for the real St. Patrick's Day. I had necklaces and hats for the girls, and I made a sort of St. Patty's Day dinner (shepherd's pie, steamed broccoli and Irish Soda bread, and green milk for the girls). But that was about it. I had planned to do more. But ... you know. Energy levels are low these days.
I put Camille down in the early evening, and Brooke and I stayed up late to have a movie date night at home. We watched the BFG, since we finished reading the book a week or 2 ago. It was so fun! We popped some movie popcorn, a whole huge bucketful, which we demolished. Brooke really loved the movie, and I had a good time watching with her. It was kind of a fun experience, reading the book together and then watching the movie. We started Fantastic Mr. Fox a few days after finishing BFG, and we've been enjoying reading that one together. It's perfect for little kids, because it's short and fun, and has a lot of pictures. We'll see about watching the movie ... I don't remember much about it.
Saturday morning, I went off to the temple and did sealings and initiatories. It was kind of an odd day in the temple. I spent a lot of time waiting to get in to do some work. But that was okay. Daniel took the girls on a little hike while I was at the temple, and it sounds like they had a lot of fun. They talked about it a lot for the rest of the day, and for days afterwards. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up house, making dinner for the Ellis', and having the Thompsons over for a fire and roasting marshmallows for s'mores. It was a low-key, fun kind of day.
No comments:
Post a Comment