more sick...

We only THOUGHT that stomach virus was through with us! A was up Saturday night puking, and of course made it nowhere NEAR the bathroom. *sigh* All over her bedding, pillow, pjs, mattress, etc. At least it wasn't on the floor (I really despise cleaning throwup out of carpets - and YES, i have done this often enough to form a STRONG opinion on this! ;-) Dear Hubby and I did a couple batches of laundry, and determined that I would stay home from church sunday, as he had to conduct. That Stomach Bug definitely been going around, but honestly, couldn't we all have it at once and be DONE??!

Piano Recital

My students had a great piano recital Saturday afternoon. Everyone did a marvelous job, and i was SO happy that A, D, and I had practiced how to be a good audience member! I didn't have any problems with them sitting on their own (I had left the two little kids w/ my dear hubby) while i announced, accompanied, etc.

A played Tambourine Party and We Three Kings:

D played Sailing in the Sun and Jingle Bells:

although on this little excerpt, D severely kack-ed the ending (and refused to try for another recording - wonder where THAT stubbornness came from ;-)

After the recital, D, A, and I headed out to dinner at Cracker Barrel for dinner in addition to doing a little Christmas shopping. It was kinda fun just to hang out with the older two, and i'm looking forward to a break from piano lessons (I always give the students the week after the recital off from lessons!)

p.s. don't you love our pudgy 'palmer' hands :-)

Happy Birthday!!

This blog is a special birthday wish to my niece, Dana! I apologize for the lethargy of my loving munchkins; that's what you get when you interrupt movie night ;-)

positives and negatives...

I decided as i was not feeling well, i would set up a video for the little kids, and make the program for my piano recital this weekend. BIG MISTAKE!!

The kids were not very entertained with the video, and decided to go play with the markers in the kitchen. Well,... they did manage to keep the markers in the kitchen (the only place i allow them to color.) However, they made a mess on the floor, and then decided to clean it up themselves, using cups of water and all the hand and body soap from the bathroom, and 1/2 the bottle of dish soap. *sigh* By the time i finished with the program and checked on them, they were skating through a pool of soap and water run through with bleeding marker colors stretching from one end of my kitchen floor to the other.

I tossed the munchkins in the tub, and chose to tackle the kitchen myself. The negatives: i'm out 1/2 a bottle of dish soap and i can hear my septic system yelling at me for all the soap and water dumped down it. The positives: The mess stayed in the kitchen (the easiest room to clean), I've got a VERY clean kitchen floor, and 2 marvelously clean and happy kids (they LOVE baths!)

Service...

D and A wanted a way to earn more dates or outings with the family and with each parent individually; i wanted to emphasize the 'spirit' of Christmas rather than the commercialism. So, we combined the two to create our Service Chart for the month. The little kids only need 10stars, the older kids need 15. The conditions are that the service must be something for someone else, and un-prompted by anyone else (i.e. not from parents' asking ;-) Anyway,... since it's inception, I've been the recipient of the sorting, folding, and putting away of all those socks (my LEAST favorite part of laundry), and of an immaculate kid's bathroom - scrubbed mirror, counters, toilet, and floor. A also chose to make D's lunch for him since he had cubscouts lastnight. I LOVE this idea - we should have done this a LONG time ago!!

sick,... again.

That stomach bug has been making the rounds - it's my turn now. It started yesterday afternoon, so i bailed on cubscouts for the evening, and had my dear hubby take D up for his meeting. They were able to take time afterwards to go to McD's for a father/son date, which was REALLY nice! It's not often that M gets the time to spend one-on-one with the kids; D was really excited about it when he got home. He ran into our bedroom (which he knows is off-limits), but he was just 'glowing' and grinning his head off - and just HAD to show me the toy that he'd gotten. Despite his selective remembrance of 'rules', I really love that boy; he makes me smile. So here's a past pic just for D; my fun-loving crazy boy!

glad they're all in school!

My dear son, D, had a stomach bug on Sunday - it didn't start until late morning, so we'd already gone to church *doh!*, after D spent all of sacrament sprawled out on the mother's floor lounge - dead to the world, we decided we'd head back home. I arranged a ride for myself and the lady i'd brought to church with us (visiting teachee w/ no car), and then sent my dear hubby home with the kids. A was so sad about having to leave that she cried (she's getting quite emotional lately - but was also really looking forward to primary.) The stomach virus lasted through the night and into monday morning - so i kept D home to make sure he wouldn't give the virus to other kids; but about midway through the day i WISHED i had sent him to school instead. Apparently what the little kids and I do throughout the day is 'boring' to an 8-year old. Anyway, i'm glad he's back in school today, and the little kids and I are having fun setting back up the tree (which E knocked over AGAIN yesterday - poor tree.)