A Typical Thursday

After dropping the kids off at school this morning, Caitlyn and William and I met our good friends (Sarah Nelson and her two youngest kids Sam, and Wiilliam) at Marie Kerr Park.  The Nelson's are from Utah and are in our ward.  We LOVE their family.  We have spent the last two Christmas Eve's together at their home.  They have 5 kids, just like us.  Their oldest baby (who was born just a few days after Lizzie) passed away when he was only 2 months old.  So sad.  Then they have a daughter a year older than Bryce, and three more boys the exact same ages as Mason, Caitly, and William.  They are our twin family and I will be so heartbroken when they move back to Utah sometime within the next few years.

Anyway, we try to meet together with them twice a week.  Sarah and I walk and talk with the kids in the stroller for a while and then the kids play at the park while we talk some more.  These weekly walks have been such a blessing for me and something that I very much look forward to.

After our walk, I take the kids home and then get dressed and ready for the day.  Today was Thursday...which meant that it was my day to volunteer at Valley View (the boys' elementary school).  I spend an hour in Mason's 1st grade class (Teacher: Mrs. Tyson) and an hour in Bryce's 4th grade class (Teacher: Ms. Scanlon).  I usually grade papers, staple papers together, file papers, and walk around and help kids with their work.  It's actually quite enjoyable.

Here I am with my volunteer badge:

After volunteering, I went home and ate lunch with the youngest two.  Normally Jon's Mom watches them while I volunteer.  Jon is still on Christmas break, however, so he was able to stay at home with the kids today.

After a short while, it's already time to pick up the big kids from school!

Oh man, he is the absolute cutest thing in the world!!

Jon's Dad dropped by a bag of costumes today.  Caitlyn fell in love with this Cookie Monster dress and headband.  She is such a character!  So sweet.

After picking up the kids today...I surprised them and took them out for ice cream at Baskin Robins.  We had a couple of buy-one-get-one-free coupons that I wanted to use before they expired.  The kids were stoked.

Lizzie ordered Strawberry Cheesecake flavor (a favorite of mine).  Notice her hair?  She is in this phase where she likes to pull her hair up in a crazy style...she can do what she wants, as far as I'm concerned.  It's her hair! :)

Bryce ordered Brownie Ice Cream (another favorite).

Mason chose Rainbow Sherbet.

Caitlyn wanted bubblegum flavor...but found out that there were actual pieces of bubblegum inside of the ice cream which put a damper on her enjoyment.

William, as a direct result of being the youngest child out of five, was given a conglomerate of all of the flavors from his siblings' bowls.  He didn't notice the odd mixture of flavors, however, and was merely pleased with the fact that he was given his very own bowl and spoon.

Ice cream was followed by homework time.  It wouldn't be homework time without Mason dressing up and being silly.

Homework time was followed closely by eating time.  Jon made hamburgers.  William was showing off his fork stabbing skills.  He didn't eat a bite of his dinner.  Hmm...perhaps because I was a naughty Mom and allowed him to ingest ice cream a few hours before dinner.

Never a dull moment with this kid!

Dinner time was closely followed by nakey time for William.

Notice the snot coming out of his nose.  He has been fighting this seemingly never-ending cold.

"Mother, do you mind?!"

All in all, a fairly typical day around our house.

I'm feeling really good about my desire to put a better effort into recording our history for posterity.  I love the idea of doing it on the internet and including pictures every day rather than merely writing in a book.  Pictures add so much life to a story.  The seemingly mundane day hardly seems boring at all if pictures are included.

Life is good.