Dive Lessons and Mother's Day

Amelia woke up last Sunday with a sore throat. Based on her grumpy demeanor, I'd say she was not feeling well. She stayed home part of the day Tuesday to rest and recuperate. We visited the DR to see if she had strep, both the rapid and extended tests came back negative. She seems to be developing our family trait for seasonal allergies. Welcome to Zyrtec! She wanted to be at school by 2:30 for the school talent show try outs. Amelia, Abby, and Chloe are singing along to a Lindsey Sterling song.

I scored some darling outfits for Josie from a lady off Facebook Market. When I got to her house it was huge, palatial, spotless, with 3 maids deep cleaning every inch. This lady had spotless clothes, perfect hair, and so on. Sometimes it is hard not to compare myself, feeling like a total frump with a gross van, rumpled hair, and dirty kneed toddlers. I don't know this lady's story, but my own seems to be riddled with messes and trench warfare. It is what it is! I'd love the clean, spacious, light colored house with maids. To assuage my envious heart I took Josie and took darling photos of her wearing her pig dress and a couple other cute outfits. My house might be dirty, but I can take clean photos. Ha ha. I took the girls while the older kids were at diving lessons. The temperatures hovered near 103, sizzling hot. Nichols park was consumed with mosquitoes that dined on our delicious blood. I am still scratching some of the bites earned during that photo session.

The kids graduated from beginning diving, back into beginning diving. The instructor advised all 3 kids take the course again to gain and perfect the skills for diving. That scary back dive is a doozy. We all went in for their last lesson. Josie was flirting with the pool's edge making us all nervous. I finally got her to stay on the grassy area. Her concession was to climb on the kick board cart nearly upending it like 20 times. She kept flashing me the most mischievous grin ever, knowing she was acting like a stinker. She agreed to sit down on our towel because of the wax ear plugs. She soon had wax balls shoved in her ears, plus a large hank of hair. I only saw one belly flop from Everett. Good job kids!

Evelyn's preschool had a visit from Build-a-Bear at school! A couple employees from the store arrived to help the kids stuff their animals and give them wish hearts. Evelyn came home with a bunny named Carrot and a cardboard house beautifully decorated. She is excited for the last week of school and all it's super fun activities.

The kids really had a great time showering their teachers with gifts for Teacher Appreciation week. Monday all the kids gave their teachers flowers from our rose bushes or carnations we had in our house. Tuesday the kids wrote sweet thank you letters. Wednesday was a fun school supply day. Phillip had a long list of supplies his teacher needed, including white paper to doodle on. He was so sweet as he made me a list of items Mrs Epstein needed. All the kids have really wonderful teachers so giving them some gifts felt like a great act of service. Phillip was recognized on Friday as a student who showed the most respect out of all the 2nd grade! He was thrilled to finally earn an award! His class is also doing a pioneer themed school adventure for the next 2 weeks. He wore the same outfit all week, plans to wear the same outfit next week too. A blue button down shirt, with jeans that are rolled up and have a ripped knee, and tall socks with shoes. I tried to convince him that the other church shirts would work as well, nope! That was the outfit. By Thursday he was quite smelly, he said washing the clothes was not part of the experience. I suggest spraying his clothes with Febreeze...he agreed that freshening up his clothes (while wear them) was just fine. Reminds me of the time I Febreezed Justin's bum after a particularly gross toot.

Our weekend was quite boring. We tortured the kids with cleaning up the backyard. The space was riddled with boxes and trash from the pool installation plus all the kid clutter that is normally there. I even vacuumed the patio to remove all the sand from the stones. Justin mowed the lawns and trimmed bushes. I dropped off my 24-105 mm zoom lens at Tempe camera for repair. The drivetrain motor (works the auto-focus function) was damaged a year ago when a helpful child dropped the lens for me. I was busy changing lenses and it was in reach for a enough minutes to get harmed. Those minutes cost $450 to repair the damage. I need the lens for a wedding I am photographing on the 18th. I treated myself to a visit to Goodwill afterward. Scored some clothes, books, roller skates for Evelyn, and roller blades for Everett!

Sweet Amelia got up at 6 am to prepare a Mother's Day surprise. She created a treasure hunt for me! I was hung over tired after Josie had a rough night so was not with it until 7:45 am. She and the boys hung 5 clues around the house and hid them under inconspicuous blankets. The hunt ended at the dinner table laden with Mother's day surprises! Mia had two cards and matching bracelets, my favorite from her was the saying, "You're the reason I'm alive...literally!" Ha ha ha. Phillip gave me a cute planted flower and card saying Te Amo. Everett made the cutest purse filled with 1st grade spelling and sentences. Evelyn made a fun card with painted hands and feet in school. She also cut out a heart all by herself. Justin dished up green scrambled eggs the kids ordered for me...'cause, you know, green is my favorite color! What a perfect start to Mother's Day. The primary kids performed "Mother, Do You Love Me?" The kids sang verses one and two and the chorus. The women sang back verses three and four with all singing the final chorus. The women did not sing as well as the kiddos! So proud of how quickly they learned the song. Justin grilled up steaks on the coal side of our grill. Yum! I asked Sister Amanda Kim to take a couple photos of me before she moves for an updated business headshot. She obligingly took photos of the kids and I as well. Yay! We went on a nice, hot walk after dinner. Evelyn wore her new roller skates...yeah, that lasted about 2 minutes. She looked like a character from the band Kiss, with her awesome makeup skills.