Gettin' Jiggy Wit It

Can I tell you HOW much I love watching my kids develop bonds of love and friendship. Sunday afternoon Amelia got Evelyn out of her crib all by herself. She snuggled up with her on the couch with a movie Evelyn wanted to watch. Talk about tender. Evelyn is all sorts shades of crazy toddler right now but the sane moments are absolutely heavenly. My heart melts when the boys see each other after school, they give each other big hugs with hard back pats. Everett came with me to pick up Phillip from school on Friday, they both ran at each other and collided into a huge hug and explosions of excitement. All the ladies around sighed, including me.

Phillip had a speech IEP Monday afternoon with Mrs Witte, Ms Hubbard, and Principal Jeffers. We had nothing but positive things to say about Phillip. Mr Jeffers mentioned that Phillip was one of the kindest boys he's meet. Phillip is always stopping to help someone in need, make someone laugh, or make a silly face. Ms Hubbard said that Phillip always brings her a smile with his jokes and such. As a parent I can't think of a better compliment than hearing your child is kind. Way to go, Phillip! We saw evidence of this at his soccer game that evening. A boy on the other team biffed it, Phillip stopped, helped the boy up, dusted him off, patted his head, and went on with the game. Everett and Cilla wrestled/played during the game with two picnic blankets. They had the best time. It was cold and blustery but we endured. Josie was not happy so got to sit in my lap during the game. My back is still hurting me on a very painful level. It's killing me. Amelia taught our FHE lesson using the same idea Justin had last week. We talked about receiving answers to our prayers and how to ask HF questions he can/will answer. Everett lead the game. A sister in Stake Conference talked about playing Bubble Gum in a Dish, we played that game for FHE. Last time I played that game was in grade school! Amelia won the game. Everett loves a good counting game!

I used my new crafting space to sew up Amelia's birthday dress. It looks so, so cute. I wanted to tear my hair out sewing up the chevron pattern. Course I had to mess up at least once, I messed up pinning the chevron pieces together. I did not notice until after I sewed and serged, my fix was to remove an inch from each panel (8 panels). The dress is not as full but still it looks amazing. I love the color scheme. Good choice Amelia! Now to make the other 20 dresses I want to make. LOL.

Jen stopped by Wednesday to drop something off, my house looked like WWIII had torn the house apart. My back was preventing me from bending over and picking up stuff. I left her at the house to go get Everett. Bless her heart...she did my dishes and picked up some while I was gone. Her reward was to snuggle Josie and tease Evelyn. Phillip had a play date with his buddy Remington from school. He is moving to Idaho this week. With Phillip, Kaylee, Remington, Winston (his brother), and Everett playing in the basement the noise level was astronomical. I am really glad that was not the day I cleaned the basement. Phillip has a crush on Kaylee. He told me last week that Kaylee makes him feel all cozy inside. He thinks she is pretty and that playing house with her makes him very happy. Those two are quite the pair.

Justin put the trundle bed together Thursday evening in preparation for Amelia's "late night" party. I cleaned up the basement so the girls could party. The new basement bedroom is now cleared out and ready for the big room switch in a couple weeks. I am pretty excited for the move. I hope we can get it finished before Amelia's surgery.

This year we are not having huge, elaborate birthday parties. Amelia requested a play date with her best friends. We decided a late night play date would be really fun. She invited Ella, Rachel, Lily, and Katelyn over for the evening. Alison saved my bacon on Friday. I had two photo sessions back to back. I planned on taking all the kids, locking them in the van with a movie and snacks. Alison said she would stay and watch the kids. Man, she had those kids cleaning up the house and running errands for her. I came home to a clean house! Even the kid's bedroom was cleaned. Everett was quite excited to show me his bed made up. After the sessions I quickly made tacos for dinner and got the dishes halfway done. As I was leaving for my photo sessions Phillip tattled on Everett. Everett broke the garage window with a periscope. Apparently, he chucked the periscope at Phillip's head because he was mad. Phillip dodged, the window did not. Crack!

The girls had a really fun time. Well, except for the moment Amelia fell and scraped her knee and elbow. Rachel helped Amelia home whispering encouraging words, like "BREATHE!" "You can do THIS!" She was so annoyingly helpful. After her wounds were bound, iced, and 2.5 cookies she rejoined the party. I guess the appeal of glow stick dancing in the basement was enough to gloss over the pain. The kids played glow-in-the-dark-tag in the basement. They moved outside once it was dark. Amelia opened a few gifts her friends brought her: a schnauzer puppy in a purse, a horse, a mini chalkboard, chalk, a sand art vase, a princess necklace, a unicorn shirt, bubbles, Reeses, earrings, and a doll outfit. Each friend brought a treat to share, PJs, a stuffed animal, and pillow. They watched Barbie Spy Squad piled up on the basement couches. Somehow my camera missed all the action. I realized it was missing after the party. Dang it. We ferried all the girls home at 10:15! Ella stayed the night since she lives in Dalton. We noticed Jen was at her shop, we stopped for a late night visit. The girls helped her distress a frame. Jen also played with a face swap app on her phone, much to our amusement. The silliest was Amelia barfing a rainbow.

Saturday morning the girls got all dolled up for a best friends photo session. We went to the field first then a favorite alley way I love. Justin took the boys and Evelyn to his soccer game. It was nice to get the girls dressed up with out the boys helping. The girls were so well-behaved they earned jet teas at the Coffee Corner. Amelia ordered a Ocean Wave and Ella got a Harry Potter with cream. I really hope these jet teas are kosher, all the other Mormons drink them. We are just joining the crowd to jump off the cliff. He he he he. Amelia wanted her birthday lunch at Oya Grill. That was great fun. Justin worked on the yard. He had the boys picking up rocks off the lawn. Justin mowed the lawn. Everett got to mow part of the north lawn. He was quite excited to mow. The highlight was when Justin turned on the sprinklers! Everett immediately soaked himself in 50 degree water. Evelyn got caught in the spray...she was NOT happy about that. Phillip whined for 30 minutes about not getting his clothes wet, I did not want him to pull out all the summer clothes just for a swim suit. He finally got his clothes lightly misted. Amelia got wet then changed into winter PJs.