I spent Tuesday watching Olive in the morning, cleaning up the house again, doing laundry, and making sugar cookies all day. I boxed a bunch of the cookies up with tubs of frosting and sprinkles to send with Julie for her family and Diane's family. I wanted to send all my sisters cookies (since I sent some to Mary), but decided I wanted to do cookie decorating kits for Julie and Diane's families, since I knew the boys would love that. It was fun making the cookies and getting them all wrapped up and ready (even though I ate far too many cookies and dough in the process). And I'm glad that I could send them with Julie instead of having to pay a million dollars in shipping.
Julie and her boys (and Mark, of course ... I include him in "the boys") got to our house super late on Tuesday night, around midnight, I think it was, and Daniel and I were already in bed sleeping. I was so so tired. We had set up some bedding for them in the loft and couch before going to bed, so when they got here, they all just got ready for bed and went to sleep. It was pretty perfect.
The girls and Makai woke up first the next morning. I think they were super excited to see each other. Brooke wanted to see them the night they got in, but I knew she'd be asleep before they got here. They didn't stay long Wednesday morning, though. Basically, they got up, got ready and packed, folded up the blankets and such, and left. I offered to make them breakfast, but they even declined that. We didn't really get a chance to visit, which sucked.
But, that's okay, because after doing breakfast and getting ready, we drove out to Ventura to pick mom up from Aunt Liz and Uncle Bob's house. It rained that whole day, basically, which was fun. And I let Brooke miss school that day so that she could be with her cousins and Gramma. We got mom, did a little errand, and drove back to Santa Clarita, stopping at Chic-Fil-A for lunch on the way home. Mom felt bad that she made us drive all the way out to Uncle Bob's house to pick her up, so she bought us lunch. And the kids loved playing on the indoor play place.
The rest of that day was taken up with naps, the girls watching tv with Gramma, and me doing my shopping trip (which I'd intended to do on Tuesday, but never got around to it). Mom and I made some keto dinner that she loves, and it was really good. Mom has me about convinced to do keto with her. She's been so successful and has such amazing things to say about it.
Before Brooke went to bed, we put her Valentines together so that she could take them to her friends at school. We'd already melted down the crayons into big heart crayons, so we just printed off some labels that said, "I melt for you Valentine! Happy Valentine's Day, from Brooke", stuck them to a small gift bag, and sealed a crayon heart inside each bag. They turned out SO CUTE!
Wednesday night, mom and I put on "When Calls the Heart" while I got the house all ready for Valentine's day. I'd bought a bunch of fun and cheap decorations at the dollar store, so when the kids were in bed, I decked the house ALL OUT. I wanted it to be super mushy and crazy, and I think I achieved that. I don't think I got a picture of it, but it was crazy! Heart cutouts on the walls, hearts hanging from the ceiling, a Vday banner across one window, the beautiful flowers that mom bought me on the table, confetti sprinkling the table, and balloons. I'd made the girls a batch each of play dough, dyed Valentine's Day colors (pink and purple), and I filled boxes for each of the kids with Vday candy. I also wrapped Daniel's present: matching shirts for both of us, saying "I love my awesome husband/wife". It was perfect.
The next morning, I got up early to make special pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream for all my valentines. We got Brooke off to school (though it was like pulling teeth -- she dawdled endlessly and complained about having to go to school; she wanted to stay for all the Valentines fun we weren't having), I got Camille and I ready and Camille off to preschool (20 minutes late, it was a morning), and then Jack and I took mom to the Flyaway when she was ready to go. Her flight left early in the afternoon on Vday. Jack slept in the car on the way there and back, which I was grateful for. His naps have been irregular for a couple of weeks, it seems.
I picked up Camille (late) and then we took some pretty flowers to the sisters I minister to for Valentines Day. We hung out together when we got home, Brooke came home, they played together, Brooke took some Valentines to neighborhood friends, and I made dinner. Oh, and in the midst of all this craziness, Daniel also had an interview with Princess Cruises. It was really some day. And the whole week was kind of like that.
Anyway, we had chicken tetrazinni for dinner with salad, heart shaped jicama, sourdough toast and bubbly. The kids loved it. And then after putting Jack to bed, we decorated sugar cookies for dessert. It was a nice Valentine's Day.
The rest of the week was laid back. I was so tired from all of our recent activity. Brooke didn't have school on Friday, and we just hung out, cleaned up the house and watched tv. Then I went to bed early and got up super early to go to the temple. I wanted to go to the 530am session so that I could be back really early so Daniel could work (he didn't get as much work done as he should've last week, due to dentist appointments and interviews, etc.); but I think that was a mistake. I really struggled to stay awake in the session, and felt like I was in a mental fog the whole time. I kept debating with myself if it was better to go to the temple and not really be there mentally, or to just not go at all. I suppose it's always better to just go, but I really didn't feel like I got much out of it.
Saturday night, we got a babysitter for Jack (who just slept the whole night), and Daniel and I took the girls to a King's game. His work gave us tickets for the game that weren't being used, and we had a great time! The girls liked the game, and loved the snacks there; Brooke got pretty into the game and kept asking me questions about it and about what was happening. We stayed for the whole game, though we weren't planning to; the Kings lost badly, but we had a really fun time.
Sundays are always nice, but kind of busy for me these days, with choir practice in the morning, playing the organ every other Sunday, I played for the Spanish Branch Sacrament meeting yesterday after church, and then song practice in the evenings. We also do a Sunday lesson in the morning before church, and a Scripture lesson in the evening after dinner. It's busy, but it also feels like a spiritual feast, which is lovely!
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