The last week of July started out with me waking up sick... I caught Brian's sore throat/cold. I decided to "take the day off" and besides feeding and meeting the children's basic needs I napped and read. It was actually kind of nice. But then as the week went on I had to continue to fulfill my household duties despite feeling rather lousy. The kids were fine playing inside the first half of the week, but then we needed to get out.
On Thursday Brian drove to Redmond for his work conference. That day the kids and I met my friends Kate Cannon and Holli Haraund and their girls at the library to meet Smokey Bear. A forest ranger was there to teach the kids about fire safety and read a book about Smokey. Then the kids got to build their own little campfire crafts. We played in the kid section for a bit afterward. That night a sister in our ward, Holly Hatch, brought her daughters Alanna and Rebekah over to babysit so I could go with her to a girl's night at Pancho's mexican restaurant in town. It was so kind of her to offer help and good to get to know her. The dinner was tasty and the company was good. There was a range of ages from young moms to moms of teens to an empty nester. While I did have a good time I can tell it is going to take more work to find common ground with these women who have such varying backgrounds and current life situations than me. Now that we are in the "real world" and out of school, there aren't those instant connections with so many in the same situation as us anymore. It kind of made me homesick for my friends and the familiar girl's night I enjoyed back in Indy.
Feeling a little bummed out and lonely Friday morning I decided I needed to be brave and invite someone over. I called Holli Haraund, even though we just met and invited her three oldest girls over to play. They were over all afternoon. The kids had fun and it felt good to give Holli a relaxing afternoon. Best of all, it built new friendships.
On Saturday I took the kids to the library to turn in their summer reading logs and pick out their two prizes. We then went and bought them life jackets at Bi-mart so they can safely swim in the river. Then we headed up to Loeb state park for the ward BBQ. It turns out meeting ward members is practically pointless when you are running around feeding and looking after four kids by yourself... go figure! haha The kids loved swimming and playing in the river for their first time, and I was completely beat by the time I had them all bathed and in bed. Church the next day was a real marathon for me too. When daddy got home that afternoon we, me especially, were so happy to have him home!
Brian's desk because the company has yet to order him one!
dress ups with Annie and Kayla
A little birdy stopped by to say hi
By Monday, the 31st, I was finally feeling better. That night we had Emily and her kids over for FHE and dessert. It was fun to visit with Em and the kids had fun playing. On Tuesday, I met Kate and her girls at a new, to us, beach called Mill Beach. It was gorgeous, nice warm 80 degrees, and we had a lot of fun. But with the cooler temps here I didn't even think about sunblock and my legs got fried and my arms a little bit too. I'm finding that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with going to the beach with kids... it is so fun, but a lot of work cleaning up the sand afterward. I'm still learning all of the tricks to make our outings run smoother.
Wednesday was my birthday. We went to the library for story time. The theme was biology and we made slime with way too much glitter. Then we went to Azalea park where the kids played for a bit until Brian came and met us for a picnic lunch. Brian told me that his assistant quit and the other dentist just bought his own practice and will be leaving at the end of the month. He kind of feels like he walked into a war zone! Afterward, I dropped Maybrie off at Sandy's house for a play date and stopped at Fred Meyer to refill my prescription. I was thrilled to find out it cost only $11... our health insurance doesn't kick in until 60 days after Brian's first day of work, which will be in mid September. Both Ezra and Henry fell asleep on the way home so I got to take a nap while they napped and Thomas watched a movie. It was wonderful. Brian picked up Maybrie and pizza after work and made me a Yum Yum cake. It was all delicious and stress free. I forgot to mention Brian brought me flowers and a card Tuesday night and got me a pair of Chacos, so now I have some waterproof sandals for the river and all the rain here. Oh and Maybrie made me cupcakes and a few pearler bead creations with her friend along with a sweet card. I always love receiving so many birthday wishes from family and friends reminding me just how blessed I truly am.
On Thursday we met up with Emily and her kids at the Del Norte county fair in Crescent City. The kids, especially Henry, loved seeing all of the animals. They also had a cute "pretend to be a farmer" activity and old schoolhouse to go in. We saw a youth melodrama and shared some cotton candy, slushy, and kettle corn. It wasn't even close to as cool as the Indiana State Fair, but we had a fun little outing. That night we gave Henry his first hair cut and he looks so cute and big. I'll miss his curling baby hair, but he really is acting like a toddler now, so I think it was time.
On Friday I cleaned house so that we could play with Brian on Saturday. The kids were good little helpers with the bathrooms and windows... I really need to teach them how to clean more! I made the mistake of taking a nap only to wake up to Ezra having locked Henry and himself in their bathroom. Henry was screaming and I couldn't get the door unlocked. I finally asked Maybrie and Thomas to kneel down with me and asked Thomas to say a prayer that I'd be able to open the door. It opened on my next try. Ezra had emptied a bunch of bottles of baby lotion, creams, disinfectant wipes and such all over the floor, plus rubbed a bunch in his and Henry's hair. It was such a mess! It's been a while since Ezra has wreaked that much havoc! Luckily, I had a date to look forward to after cleaning the mess. Abby Marks babysat and she was great... and bonus, she can drive so we didn't have to pick her up. We went to Khun Thai for dinner which was pretty good. Then we went on a little walk down Mill beach... we didn't last long because we forgot to bring jackets. We went for a drive, window shopped and grabbed a few groceries at Fred Meyer, shared a blizzard at DQ, and came home to a quiet house with all the kids sleeping. It was a good night.
On Saturday we took the kids to Art in Park at Stout Park in town. They had some fun things to look at from various vendors, a neat train display and a kid's art area. Then we went upriver to Loeb and we all had fun swimming and playing in the water. The weather was great. It was a fun family outing... everything is better when daddy is around!
On Sunday we went to church. I bore my testimony and Maybrie was very brave giving her talk in primary. We had the Blatter's and Lassen's over for a Cafe Rio dinner. Good food and company, though I must admit doing it kind of stressed me out. I really want to invite people over to make more friends, but I think I may need to just do dessert or something for a while. I need to cut myself some slack and be okay with taking some time to acclimate to my new surroundings. Sometimes this change is just plain hard. Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention is that in an effort to help Maybrie sleep better and stay in bed (she was coming out multiple times a night and staying up till 11 or so every night, it was a nightmare!) I decided to start reading aloud to her before bed. Last week we started reading Little House in the Big Woods and it has been really good for us. She has been staying in bed and falling asleep faster. Phew! Now on to the twenty million other things I want/need to tackle as a parent! Slowly and surely we are settling in to our new life. Oh, and Maybrie and Thomas learned to ride their bikes without training wheels! Woot! Woot!
The almost daily deer sightings
Art in the Park
