Josie's Surprise Party

Our week started out quite slow. Evelyn wanted to try out the IRI reading test on Monday morning so she could earn a milkshake and make elephant toothpaste! I quite enjoyed her enthusiasm to get the hard stuff out of the way first thing. Her experiment went well! She helped me measure out the ingredients, add certain ingredients to a bottle, food coloring, and mix up a separate reaction mixture. We did the experiment outside in case it got away from us. The kids were expecting a large scale reaction. Still the small foamy reaction was quite fun! It really looked like toothpaste about halfway through the reaction time. Phillip spent about 3 hours working on the writing portion of the ISAT test. He did his best and I am so proud of his effort. Everett took the math practice test this week, he said that was easy peasy! Hooray! This week the boys worked hard in science and social studies. The boys learned about the Constitutional Amendments on Wednesday. Phillip busted out 4 lovely sentences regarding his favorite amendments. Evelyn is busy memorizing sight words and lots of imagination play with Josie. Of course the academic machine Amelia is going strong. She missed Tuesday because of a yucky tummy but caught up before the week ended. Phillip and I worked on a science experiment trying to float paper clips on water. That was a work in frustration! After a google search we tried floating the paper clip on a paper towel first then gently sinking the paper. That worked once. Water surface tension is a delicate balance! Phillip added soap which changed the water's polarity so the clip sank...all that hard work. Fun, fun!

Josie had her well-child on Monday. She is growing fast! I was surprised she's not at the bottom of the growth charts! I love when pediatricians ask kids to show off their skills like balancing, counting, hopping, etc. Josie checked off all her target skills except for eating fruits and vegetables. We were joking the other day that she started life off so fast she fainted and only revived with a dose of sugar and carbs. Guess she got hooked on the good stuff right at birth! Ha ha. Josie was super brave about getting her kindergarten shots. Her arms were too skinny so she got two shots in her legs. I just wish the shots were not a soup of 4 different inoculations, spread the shots out and take a bit more time. She got a lollipop for her bravery. We made a special mommy-daughter trip to Fred Meyers for Valentine's day candy. She grabbed several cute squishmallows for our growing collection (a corgi for Mia, an elephant for Josie, and a rock n'roll llama for Evelyn). Josie used her allowance and Christmas money to buy her elephant and a toy. She also picked out 3 small toys for her birthday. The Krakengard incident happened while I was away. Read the separate entry. Phillip also had a visit this week with Dr Aldous. We decided to try him back on Adderall for the time being.    

We really needed to get out of the house, talk about feeling trapped and stir-crazy. I took the kids swimming for several hours at the recreational center. Ambree and Everett's friend Flynn came along to play with us. We actually stayed long enough this time for the rope swing to open! Everett and Phillip were very excited to finally try it out. Josie worked hard on swimming without her floatie. She does quite well putting her face in the water and kicking! She just doesn't really use her arms, makes sense because the floaties restrict her arms. 

Wednesday was Justin's 16th year anniversary as a CPA! We took him out for a celebratory lunch as a family to Cafe Rio.  It's not common these days to only have 1 career, Justin is almost to 20 years as an accountant. That is impressive. This week was especially difficult and trying at work. The draft was filed on time but they had an essential employee quit with no notice and lots of other pressures. Hopefully work will even out again in the next month or so. We are sure glad he works hard so I can stay home and raise our hoodlums.   

Thursday I busted out my sewing machine to make a moon shaped pillow out a gray velvet. Sewing is nice! Wish I had more reason to sew. Josie hates the itchy seams so refuses to wear my creations. Evelyn fits into Mia's old dresses so the urge to sew is next to null. I spent the evening prepping for two early morning photo sessions of a 3 month boy and newborn girl. One of my clients from last year is referring my name to anyone she knows having a baby! I am grateful for the business. So far she has referred 6 names to me, 4 are still expecting. I gifted her a free session for all the referrals. Amelia creatively directed the kids into making a movie trailer using iMovie. She was introduced to it the night before at YWs. The kids made a funny trailer about Killer Koalas. They started another trailer about zombie dancers but didn't finish it. 

Friday was a busy, busy day. The little boy was crabby and refused to smile like mom wanted him too. We tried for 30 minutes with little success. The next three hours were spent in the newborn session. That ended 10 minutes before 90 minutes of piano lessons. I had enough time to shovel some late lunch into my mouth. Right after lessons Diego came back for another try at smiley photos after a long nap and feeding session. It took a bit but he finally delivered some sweet smiles. I cleaned up my large mess before and after dinner. Justin and I had a date in the Ostler's garage assembling Josie's pink Minnie Mouse car. Sara helped us out, that 3rd hand came in handy since Justin was tired and let us take over. He read the instructions while we did the hard labor. He took me out for an ice cream sundae. 

Saturday was Josie's BIG day! She's counted the days down since Christmas day. She woke up to find 5 hearts on her door, she loved her "notes." We cleaned up the house before lunch so we could have cupcakes with the Ostlers. Justin was absolutely trashed so we pulled him out of bed around 11:20 for lunch. Josie asked everyday for weeks to have her birthday lunch at Jimmy John's! Away we went! She brought along one of her birthday gifts to open during lunch. We sounded really good singing "happy birthday!" Josie went to play with the Ostler's while the rest of us set up the house for Josie's Koala Surprise Party! Amelia was the party planner extraordinaire. She had a typed list of decorations, food, games, and party information. Evelyn and Phillip stuffed the pinata. Amelia, Clare, and Fallon decorated the front room and table. I made butter cream frosting and finished up decorating the cupcakes. Justin and the boys worked on dog poop duty and the backyard. Once all her 4 friends arrived Sara escorted Josie over with her koala sleeping mask on her eyes. She was so surprised to see all over her friends! The gift table was the first thing she noticed. She went right over and started ripping open a gift. Amelia showed her the big chungus Koala (now named Twinkle) in the front room! That gift was the biggest hit. Josie chose to do the pinata first. All the big kids were raging for a turn, mad that only kids 8 and under got a try. Josie was the one to knock down the Koala...intact. The kids beat the koala open. Phillip turned it upside down to shower down all the candy and stuffers. We had to do a little redistribution to ensure all the kids had some candy and favors. Amelia organized a game of Duck, Duck, Goose; Pin the leaf on the Koala; and Simon Says. Josie opened her gifts next, so exciting! Every kid should have at least one birthday party in my opinion. We sang Happy Birthday and ate cupcakes next. There was still 40 minutes to burn so the kids played outside, played with balloons, or jumped on the tramp. I was exhausted by the time the party ended. Once the party was over Justin and Phillip snuck her new pink car into the garage. She asked me 100 times that day where her car was. She was quite confused it was not waiting for her! It was fun surprising her a second time with the car. Evelyn stuffed the car with all her new koala toys for a very silly car ride. Mia spent the evening with snuggling puppies at Clare's house. The puppies are so big, nearly 3 times their birth size. Josie was happy to eat pizza for dinner. She enjoyed seeing Grandma Debbie, the Call Grandparents, and Charity via FaceTime. The night before I shared Josie's birth story. We reminisced watching cute baby videos. Phillip reminded us about her silly duck laugh that only Phillip could make her do. We love this kid with her joie-de-vivre and sweet nature. Josie was quite intent about lining up all her gifts and admiring them. She made a line of toys then laid on her huge Josie-sized Koala and sang Happy Birthday to herself! Charity called right after Josie opened a giant Hershey Kiss! CHOCOLATE!!!! BAAAAAA! She was hyped up on goofy balls. Grandma asked Josie if she had a party. Josie replied, "no, Amelia had a party with her friend and invited little kids!" I'm unsure she realized the party was for her organized by Amelia. Poor Mia! All that work was not wasted. Promise. 

Today Phillip was set apart as the Deacon's secretary. He wanted to know what his calling was about. When he learned what secretaries do he was a little bummed but excited to try something new. I subbed for singing time in Primary today. Busy week!