New Chapter

I hope I didn't bite off more than I can chew, but I'm starting a new chapter of activities now that I'm not teaching preschool anymore.

Community Service: I volunteered to head up a neighborhood bingo event on a regular basis. It's looking like it will be every other month. I also joined an improvement committee where we are researching adding a splash pad to our neighborhood; the issue is that the committee is only 3 members so it puts more work on each of us.

Church Service: I'm going to start a temple shift once a week.

School Service: In addition to my elementary library volunteering once a week, I was just elected as the treasurer for the high school tennis booster club. It feels extra busy at the start of the school year, especially as I'm trying to learn my responsibilities.

Fun: I joined another tennis league, so I'll be playing twice a week now.

Work: I added a few new piano students bringing my total to 13 + Austin/Bryson. I also will be tutoring 2 homeschool students in math twice a week.

My calling remains very busy still, but it's mostly Sunday busy (training new Primary Music Leaders and visiting my assigned wards monthly). Right now we are preparing for Stake Day Camp, so I'm putting in lots of extra hours with that on the horizon.

I'm looking forward to attending Institute again. I missed the last semester because they moved it to a preschool day.

I might have filled the preschool void with too many new things! Being busy is a good thing right? Let's see how it goes...

Carter's 9th Birthday

Carter opened presents first thing in the morning. We've really enjoyed the game Splendor!

With his birthday on a Saturday, we had baseball to fill the day. Unfortunately Carter's team lost their game, but the team sang 'Happy Birthday' and enjoyed cupcakes.

Birthday buddies

Matt had a brisket competition that night for an Elder's Quorum activity, so we were able to snag a few pieces of brisket for dinner, which Carter and I love. It was yummy!

I felt loved and appreciated by the friends/family who stopped by or wished me a happy birthday!

Grandma and Grandpa came over for a steak dinner on Sunday (official birthday dinner for Carter/me/Matt) and to wish Carter a happy birthday. We had the leftover cupcakes I made for the baseball team--cookie dough-filled cupcakes.

Carter is a hard worker in everything he does: school, piano, and baseball. So far Carter is a straight-A student with excellent conduct marks. At baseball practices, Carter is out there hustling the whole time. Piano is not a favorite activity, however, and Carter and I butt heads quite a bit. It takes both of us consciously being patient with each other for a piano practice to go well when I sit down with him. Piano doesn't come as easily and naturally to him as Caleb, which I think is hard for him to see his older brother so celebrated for this talent. He asks to quit often, but he knows that if he wants us paying for baseball, then he needs to keep pushing on in piano.

Carter is our best worker in the yard and cleaning bathrooms. He is not afraid to get dirty and do the "gross" jobs. If his dad is out working in the yard, Carter likes to be out there helping. We love that so much about him! Occasionally, just to be nice, Carter will come home from school and sweep the leaves in the driveway. He's not afraid to clean toilets and has also been a big help in the past if Austin had a poopy accident in his underwear.

Matt and I also love that Carter is our most adventurous eater! He will try everything and likes most everything he tries. He is starting to have a humongous appetite which gives me a glimpse of what teenage years might be like trying to keep the house stocked with 4 boys! 

In our Family Home Evenings and home church, Carter is the best listener and is always quick to give thoughtful answers to the questions we ask.

Matt's birthday was on Tuesday, April 2nd. I sneakily got up early and made one of Matt's favorite cookies--snickerdoodles--and showed up at the end of seminary so that the class and I could sing 'Happy Birthday' to him. Some students wrote notes as well, which Matt appreciated. It was a good start to his day.

First Time Giving Blood

There was a local blood drive opportunity where they were begging for donors. In the past I've always had the excuse of nursing or being pregnant as a reason not to donate--in truth I was nervous to try because I know both my mom and older sister have issues with fainting. But I have always done just fine having my blood drawn during pregnancies that I decided to man up and give it a try. When I arrived for my appointed time, I saw other donors lying down with a huge bag of their blood rocking in a machine next to the donor. That made my stomach queasy. I was kind of hoping as I went through the preliminary screening process that I wouldn't qualify as one of my friends did. Then I would have an easy out. But all went smoothly as they checked that I was a suitable donor. Matt was at a baseball scrimmage with Caleb so I had the younger 3 boys with me. A friend offered to take my boys home to her house--having never donated before I didn't realize it was a semi-long process. Austin decided to go home with her, but Carter and Bryson were excited and curious about it all because they knew I was nervous so they opted to stay.

A nurse got me set up and told me it would take 5-10 minutes. Despite my nerves, everything went well! I squeezed my the stress ball, looked at my phone, and when the nurse came over after about 6 minutes, I was so proud that I had done it! My blood saved 3 lives! Except that the nurse wasn't coming to take everything off and tell me I was done as I had assumed. She said my blood had slowed down (even though I had been squeezing my stress ball the whole time!) and that instead she needed to stick the needle in further. That was the beginning of the end. Pushing the needle in further hurt and started the queasiness. It soon felt like a ton of tiny spiders were crawling up my body. I alerted the nurse that I didn't feel very well, and then all went black.

Some unknown amount of time later, someone was annoyingly waking me up out of the best deep sleep. As I came to, two nurses were fanning me, putting ice packs on me, and asking me if I knew where I was right now. They also asked me what I had had to eat that day. My answer of french toast for breakfast and roasted veggies for lunch didn't make them very happy, and they said that's the reason I had fainted. I decided not to mention that I had run 10 miles that morning as well.

They asked me to continue squeezing the stress ball to finish up, which surprised me. A few minutes later, they pulled the needle out. I think I was able to donate enough blood? By that point, I had called Matt. Caleb's scrimmage was over and he rushed over to take the kids home for Caleb to babysit and then came back so he could drive me home. They had to keep checking my vitals to make sure everything was stable enough for me to go home. I felt horrible because I was the last appointment of the day, so they were all cleaned up and ready to be done for the day except waiting on me. I was grateful to finally get home, and Matt took care of the kids so I could take a late afternoon nap. I felt much better when I woke up and less shaky after a good dinner. Giving blood is not something I anticipate doing again in the future. :-/

Birthday Week!

Carter and I had a birthday on March 30th. We celebrated with my family the weekend before. Carter and I were discussing what kind of cake to make him this year. He wanted a Spider Man cake. I suggested that maybe we should come up with a cake together since it was both of our birthdays. We compromised with this:

 A cheesecake with a spider web on top. Okay, so it favored my preferences, but Carter was still happy. And the no-bake cheesecake was delish! (Whipping cream and cream cheese--you can't go wrong)

Blowing out his 5 candles

On Monday, Carter's day started out by opening one present in the morning so he could use it on the way to drop Caleb off at school. He was so excited about his new helmet!

 I also made his breakfast-of-choice of waffles and his favorite lunch, a BLT.

We let Carter choose between a birthday party and Chuck E. Cheese. He picked the latter, and we went that night. My parents joined us.

Bryson had a fun time on all the rides.

Caleb was all about earning the most tickets.

Carter's focus was enjoying the experience.

Opening presents:

A book and movie from my mom

Besides the helmet, we gave him a new soccer ball (starting soccer league), bullets for his nerf gun, and some candy.

Enjoying cake (leftover from my dad's retirement party*--I didn't make another one)

I took a picture of both of us the day after our birthday when I wasn't wearing any make-up. Should have done it the day before.

I had many phone calls, texts and Facebook messages on my birthday, which made me feel special. My Visiting Teacher brought over some beautiful tulips and my favorite candy bar (Symphony toffee and almonds). She had no idea it was my favorite. The focus was on Carter though. I'm excited about my birthday present from my parents--Matt and I will go see the broadway musical Cinderella. Matt bought me a new ipod as there were several issues with my old one--I use it almost daily when I run, and so it was so annoying that it hadn't worked as well for the last 6 months.

Matt's birthday was on April 2nd. He took the day off work so that he could do one of my birthday presents I asked for--go to the dentist! His orthodontia work was on hold because he had a cavity that needed to be filled. This is Matt's first cavity (33 years old), and it wasn't completely his fault (orthodontist didn't put a bracket on tight enough which led to the cavity). All I asked for my birthday was for him to get the dentist visit done so he could continue with his orthodontia work, which will in turn lead to him getting his braces off! He sacrificed and did it on his birthday--not the most exciting thing to get a cavity on your birthday!

I made one of his favorite cookies (snickerdoodles) and one of his favorite dinners (beef stroganoff). He wanted a nice Nerf gun for his birthday, so he picked out which one he wanted. He wants to host a Nerf gun war at our house and invite people over. He is still a kid!

Another year older, and wiser too!

*My dad retired! Now my parents are looking forward to leaving on a mission at the end of this year.