A Six Day Weekend

Peter and Josh had a six day weekend. Yes, I wrote that right: six days, no school.

It started on Wednesday. Hannah and John were still in school, so it was just the three of us hanging out at home when I got a phone call from Arlene, who is the office manager at our condo clubhouse. She had to go to the dentist and was wondering if I could go in and sub for her for a few hours that day. (This wasn't totally out of the blue; I've been subbing for her on Saturdays this year so she can attend her grandsons' basketball games.) So the three of us went to the clubhouse to hang out for about three hours. The boys managed to keep themselves entertained playing pool and experimenting with the equipment in the weight room while I answered the phone when it rang and took messages for Arlene. That afternoon we went to the library, and that evening the boys and I had scouts.

On Thursday, we had parent teacher conferences. We started with Peter's teachers - Ms. Priola for reading and writing and Ms. Overton for math. Then we went to the rooms where Josh's core teachers  (English, math, science, social studies) were hanging out and talked to each of them. Then we talked to the gym teacher, the music teachers, the art teacher, the tech teacher, and finally returned home in time for lunch. After lunch we went to the store to get some valentines for Peter's class and a few other things. Later that afternoon, I went to the high school where I got to talk to Hannah and John's many teachers. (English x2, math x2, science x2, social studies x2, engineering (John), French (Hannah), orchestra (Hannah) ) After about two hours there, we returned home just in time to have dinner before Hannah and I headed out for a Relief Society activity where we got to paint pictures of sunflowers, and Steven went to scouts.

On Friday, none of the kids had school. Hannah spent most of the day at the school anyway doing tech stuff for the musical, and John joined her in the afternoon for a musical practice. (I think he's already got all the tech hours he needs.) Josh and Peter spent the day at home on the computer. That evening, Steven brought home a dozen roses and took me out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse in honor of Valentine's Day.

Saturday, Hannah and John spent the day at the school doing a drama workshop for younger children. Josh and Peter spent more time playing minecraft on the computer, but eventually Peter got bored. He wanted to go to the park. I grabbed my camera and took him. It wasn't the best time of day for a photo shoot; it was a bright, sunny day and there wasn't a lot of shade around the playground, but I took several pictures that I really liked. (Peter was a good sport to pose for me as I played with my camera.) We had missionaries over for dinner that evening.

Sunday was a day of rest. We were saddened to hear that a sister in our ward had passed away that morning. She wasn't very old - maybe in her fifties? and had two children in college. Her passing seemed very sudden, even though we were aware that she had been having some health problems. Steven baked homemade English muffins for breakfast and french bread to go with our lasagna for dinner that night.

Monday was Presidents Day so Steven had the day off as well as all the kids. I think after so much time off school, the younger boys didn't know what to do with themselves at home any more, and so all the boys went to spend a few hours playing at a friends' house.

Today, everyone is back at school and work. Things are back to normal, and I've got people here installing a new furnace. (The ancient one (it's older than I am) still worked, but it was just a matter of time until it it blew up, so we decided to have it replaced while we have the funds - we recently received our tax return for the year:))