Still Around

I am still alive! You'd think with Brian home, I'd have more time. But I am so behind though in keeping track of what we've been up to. The week has been hard, too, with just kids not behaving or getting along, etc. Ugh. So I've been worn out and SOOO tired. I probably could have slept an additional 5 hours through the course of each day and been very happy. But, alas, that didn't happen, which probably why I was grumpy a few of the days, too. Anyway--the week is over and I'm hoping that the weekend and next week are better! Here is a quick rundown of our week for posterity's sake.

Monday: I can't really remember what we did except Kari and I walked in the morning. Oh yea! Rachel was nice enough to let us come over and swim. We had a great time.

Tuesday:
We got up really early so we could be at swim team at 8. We had signed up Libby and Eliza. Eliza was excited to go, but Libby on the other hand...well, let's just say we couldn't even get her to put her swimming suit on. Did I say it was a rough morning? Brian and I were both just SO frustrated with the whole situation and that she has such issues with things like this. We were at a loss, do we throw her in the water in her clothes? Do we wait to see if she'll change her mind? What do we do?!??! Ack. We tried to coerce her and talk her into getting her suit on and participating but no luck. So that day, we told her that she couldn't swim anywhere else unless she swam there. The more I thought about it today, I figured that could make for a LONG summer and I'm not sure what it would accomplish to do that. We decided to keep our word for that day. We went swimming that night at Brian's parents' and Libby had to sit out. She didn't like it, but at least we followed through. Eliza did well in her group--it'll be fun to see her get better throughout the summer. It was so frustrating though having to deal with Libby. I just wish I had a book with answers in it of how to deal with things like this. I felt like nothing we decided was the right answer.

Wednesday:
Kari and I walked again. Eliza and Libby got to take a class that my mom taught at Scrap Happy Sisters. It was a class for kids and they made a darling "Girl Power" book. My two girls took it along with their cousins Abby and Emma. They had a great time and LOVED creating their books. After the class, they got some lunch, then came home and showed off their creations.

Thursday:
We were up and ready early again for swim team. Libby wouldn't put her suit on again. Big surprise! Nothing we said or didn't say would help. So we decided that we are going to try to get a refund and we'll put her in swimming lessons just so she can have a little instruction this summer. We'd love to put her in gymnastics since she always talks about it and will actually participate for some odd reason, but it's a little pricey unfortunately. Hopefully we can find an opening for a lesson.

In the evening we all went to the library to get their "prize" for reading. They also got some new books.

Friday:
Today was actually a better day than any of the others. We got up and ready. The girls were good about getting their stuff done this morning. Maybe it helped that I bought bribes at the store last night--just some candy, but it's worth it to me! My brother brought Dallin and Abby over for a play date, so the kids had fun playing for a while, then eating lunch before playing some more.

This afternoon my parents came over and we went to a fundraiser they were having at the Cold Stone corporate office for Makenzie. The ice cream was free and they were accepting donations. So we were able to help and get some good ice cream! We thought they might have a few flavors to choose from or just have some already made up that we could have, but it was a free for all. Whatever you wanted, down to the size and even in a chocolate dipped waffle bowl if you wanted. I tried the new butterscotch jello pudding ice cream and they mixed in butterfinger, peanut butter cup and caramel. It was YUM!

After we got back home, we hurried and had dinner before heading out again to the Children's Museum of Phoenix. On the first Friday night of each month, they have free admission. We were a little nervous at first since the line was so long. It moved quickly but that was just to get a number, then you had to wait until they called your number to go in. Luckily, they had tons of sidewalk chalk to keep all the kids entertained. The time went pretty quickly and then it was our time to go in. My girls had a great time. They loved it and could have spent much longer there if it weren't already so late. We didn't do everything, but they spent time in the "market" where they "shopped" for groceries and even got to be the checkout person. Libby totally ate that up. I think working at Bashas is in her future! She had a ball "ringing up" kids' orders. From there we went to the restaurant where they could "make" food which was all made from fabrics and such. Hattie loved it in there, too. They did a noodle maze thing that you tried to get through. They also rode trikes in a trike wash. That was fun. They also had fun with a couple other activities. So fun! I am glad we went. It was a fun night.