Quiet is good

We’ve had such a nice break from our usual non-stop life! On Sunday we had no where to go and no one was coming over so we all put on our jammies right after church (at 2:00). We had our favorite Sunday meal of hot dogs with Brendan’s guacamole! The kids all gathered around the kitchen table and did their homework together. They hardly ever do that and we totally know that those days are soon to be gone so I had to take a picture. It may seem like a boring event to most, but it was a precious sight to me. Reminded me of the times when they used to spread out their Valentines cards for school and do them all together. Now only Allison does them still. We watched the Super Bowl together and laughed at most of the commercials. All the good ones were during the first half.

Jordan got called to ref 3 games Tuesday night so he couldn’t go to Young Men’s. Jake went and had a fun time. They played the game, Love Thy Neighbor, decorated Valentine cookies, and delivered a few to some families in the ward.

We hadn’t gone grocery shopping in over 1 week and so I went to Wal-Mart and Costco and spent a small fortune. I filled up the fridge, freezer, and pantry but it will all be gone in a few days. Nothing lasts long around here. I ended up cleaning out our pantry while putting away the groceries and threw away a large black garbage bag full of stuff that was either useless, expired, or empty. It’s made me smile all week as I open our organized pantry! I told Brendan that I really want to work as a professional organizer. Seeing a messy closet or pantry or even an entire messy room is such a fun prospect for me. I love that kind of challenge and I love seeing the final outcome. I have helped a few people in our ward each year when we do our service auction and I always volunteer my organizing services. It is so much fun when I have the time. Of course, I hate it when I’m too busy to really tackle that kind of project. It sure would beat making bows all day long, but it wouldn’t be as steady.

On Wednesday, Jordan again got called to fill in to referee the 9th grade boys teams. He has been getting a lot of more opportunities because he is so responsible about showing up on time and not messing around while on the job! It’s too bad that this great referee job is seasonal, but I’m glad that he’ll at least have a great reference to put down on his resume for the future.

I went to Allison’s parent teacher conference on Thursday. I had made it for 5:50 so that Brendan could come, but the auditors are coming next week and he had a ton of work and wasn’t able to make it. She’s doing much better and the teacher has been so good to work with her and make her be responsible. She’s reading above grade leve and the teacher said that our reading aloud each night is very evident at school. I peeked at her desk and I was so happy to see it clean!

I cleaned out our filing cabinets and shredded paperwork from this past year. Brendan finished up our tax return. We are getting $1900.00 back! We are using it to go on vacation this summer, hopefully to go to Iowa to visit Chris’ family and see some church history sights. Then we cleaned out the garage since it was the warmest day of the year so far at about 50 degrees. Winter makes such a mess in the garage with all the tracked in dirt and salt from the roads. The kids played outside most of the day too.

Jordan was supposed to be home at 1:00 but was asked to ref the Shoot Out at the Legacy Center until 4:00. He came home exhausted! Birthday tradition for our family is that the birthday person gets to choose anywhere they want to go together for dinner. Since her birthday was on a Sunday this year, Allison chose to go to Johnnie’s Ribs on Saturday. I don’t think she likes the food as much as the rest of us do, but she loves the scones for dessert. They gave us all a free one for her birthday and took a picture of our family to put on their picture wall! That night as I was putting her to bed I gave her a big hug and told her that 11 years ago she was just about to come out of my tummy and 11 years from now she might very well be a mommy herself! I can’t believe how fast time flies. Brendan and I used to be the teenagers not long ago, now we have a son that age and not too long from now we will be “grandma and grandpa.”