None of the things

There are some weeks where everything lines up and we have ALL THE THINGS happening in one week. 

This was not one of them. 

This was the type of week where everything lines up and we had NONE OF THE THINGS. Veronica didn't have therapy therapy. She didn't have girls activity. Derrick and Charlotte and Lydia didn't have a youth activity because there had been stake activity on Sunday. I didn't have Bible Study or my scripture study group. 

About the only regular stuff that made it onto the calendar was Brandon teaching at CSI and Veronica's vision therapy. Other than that it was a very simple week. 

So this is going to be a very simple recap. 

Sunday was too cold for hike. So we spent the afternoon trying to figure out to do and at least one kid got kind of yelled at. There's a reason we go on hikes on Sunday. 

Later in the day the kids discovered that the game Shell Shocker was no longer blocked on the school issued chrome books. All four kids spent the rest of the evening playing that game together. Basically they are eggs that go around shooting each other. 

I've started a thing where I make muffins on Sunday night so we can have them for breakfast on Monday. This started two weeks ago when we were nearly out of milk on Sunday night and I didn't want to run to the store on Monday morning just so the kids could have cereal for breakfast. So I made muffins. 

It went so well that we've just decided to make Muffin Monday a thing. We've always had such rushed mornings that we've literally never had anything other than cereal for breakfast. So these muffins feel very exciting and new. 

So anyway, I made muffins again on Sunday night. The kids ate a few before bedtime, but we saved the rest for the morning. 

Monday was a good day. I got a lot done at work. Then I picked up Derrick and we went grocery shopping during the hour between when I pick him up and when I pick up Brandon. 

We picked up Brandon and dropped him and the food off at the house. Then we went to the orthodontist. Derrick's teeth have been moving together very well. But as they move together the wire actually starts poking out the back. So we had to go in really quick to get the wire clipped. We were in and out of there within like 5 minutes.

Brandon took care of picking Veronica up from school. And later he took Derrick to Robot Club. (Oh that was another thing that stayed on the calendar.) 

They use these super cute Codey-Rocky robots and learn to program them with the computer. Brandon wants to get one. 

I spent Monday night finalizing some plans for our trip to Texas next month. I reserved our rental car and the hotels we will stay in on the way down there and back. It was really fun to get that all planned out. 

Tuesday was another good day. On most of the days of the week I pick up Derrick from school and then pick up Brandon from work right after. Sometimes we stop at the bank before we get Brandon. Other days we go straight there and wait for about 5 minutes. I figured since this has been part of my daily routine since December I might as well take a picture of it. Here's Derrick and I hanging out together. 

Here's Brandon's work. It's a big warehouse type place. 

This is the front where Brandon comes in and out. 

That afternoon was cold, but that didn't stop Charlotte from working on the chicken area. She had all the chicken wire in place. Now she was going around with a strand of wire and basically sewing the top wire and the bottom wire together. That way some dumb chickens wouldn't figure out how to escape through the gap.

I can't remember why exactly I took this picture. Probably as a reminder that we really should paint the back of the garage this year. 

I was excited that this soil was actually brown. Usually its all dry and grey over here. But we'd had so much rain that it was actually full of moisture. 

Here's another garden bed. This one has onions that I put in last fall.

And look! Daffodils!

I went into the front yard and was looking at the tulip points that are coming up there. 

They are so much harder to see in these pictures than they are in real life. 

These ones are easier to see. 

The side yard has lots of things popping up too.

I was very happy that we were seeing signs of spring. 

Brandon taught at CSI again on Tuesday. The main CSI campus is in Twin Falls. But Brandon teaches at the Mini-Cassia campus in Burley. (Mini-Cassia refers to Minidoka and Cassia Counties. And Cassia is pronounced Cash-ah because Idaho is weird like that.) Anyway, Burley is like 40 minutes away and Brandon teaches from 5:00-8:00. We only have one working car right now. So Tuesday nights are nights that we just plan to be home all evening. 

I've figured out that its a good opportunity to make bread. Normally I look at bread recipes and I'm like, "Oh I do not have time for all this rising." But these days I have enough time on Tuesdays. So last week I made bean bread and this week I made banana bread. 

Our banana bread recipe calls for cooking the bread for an hour at 325 and then another half an hour at 300. Normally that is crazy talk. I can't keep track of something in the oven for 90 minutes. But that's just fine on Tuesdays. 

We knew that it might snow on Wednesday, but it was still crazy to wakeup to THIS. There were like 3 inches on the ground. And because the weather stayed cold for a few days the snow didn't melt right away.

I was trying to take a picture of the snow on the chicken area at the very back of this picture. So look through the patio and you might see the snow on the chicken wire. It was pretty.

I didn't work on Wednesday and this was also my last week of the break before my scripture study group started up again. I was basically planning to do nothing. 

This is what nothing looking like. 

1. I dropped all the kids off at school. (Easier said than done. Veronica was reluctant to go, but it was picture day so I didn't want her to miss it. I dropped her off late around 8:30.)

2. Then I went to Smiths and picked up a prescription and got gas. 

3. Then I went to Castle Therapy and spent an hour there. 

4. Then I went to the bank and opened my own checking account. This was actually kind of a big deal. I've never had my own account with a different bank than the one I started with at 16. When Brandon and I got married we'd opened a joint bank account with the same bank that I was already with. And we've used that account for almost 17 years. The bank is based in Utah, but thanks to the internet we were able to always use that account even when we lived in other states. Heck, Brandon still used that account when he was in Korea. 

So even though we've settled down in Idaho we've never considered changing banks.  Brandon did open his own account with a bank that's in Idaho and Utah. But we've kept our joint account with the Utah bank. And everything was fine until I started getting paid by East Idaho Moms. 

I get a small amount for every blog post that I write for East Idaho Moms and they pay by check. When I got the first check I tried to put it into my account using mobile deposit. But there was something wrong with the way the routing and account numbers showed up. My mobile app wouldn't accept it. 

Since this was going to be a reoccurring payment I wanted to come up with a good long term solution. And so I decided I might as well get my own bank account at the bank where I go to at least once a week to drop off work deposits. Brandon and I already have a business account with this bank so yeah, it was high time one of us get a personal account there. 

So I went in and my friend Dina helped me set up an account. Dina along with Tracy and Darla are bank tellers that I've worked with for YEARS at this point. I've been dropping off deposits at this bank since 2020. Aspen Grove uses this bank, the PTO uses this bank, Twin Falls RV Guy uses this bank. I'm here a lot. 

And I'm especially particular to this branch. When Aspen Grove moved to a new location I figured that I probably wouldn't go to this branch as often. But I don't like the branch that's closer to Aspen Grove. The drive up window is bigger and I always seem to be at the third bay with a giant truck between me and the window. 

So I prefer to go to the usual branch, which is closer to my house anyway. The tellers know my name, I know there names. It's fun. (And totally a sign that I've lived in this city a long time.)

Anyway after all that I went home and made myself lunch and then relaxed on the couch watching The Crown. (I've been watching this show for like 18 months and I finally made it to season 3 a few weeks ago. That shows you how much time I actually have for TV.)

I was going to work on a project or something while watching TV. But I just felt like relaxing. 

Then it was time to pick up Derrick and Brandon and get busy again. 

Derrick has been OBSESSED with buying a VR headset. He found one on Amazon for $26 and was working hard to save up money to buy it. I pay the kids $1 to help make dinner, but lately no one has really cared about that. Derrick took advantage of that and helped make dinner nearly every night for two weeks. 

I knew he was close to getting enough money so I added the headset to my order of some other stuff from Amazon. It would arrive on Thursday. 

Here's Derrick with his $26 after making dinner on Wednesday night. He was so excited. 

Which made what happened on Thursday extra disappointing. When the package arrived Derrick opened it and discovered that it wasn't a headset. It was the silicone coverings for a headset. 

Somehow he'd never noticed that. Brandon hadn't noticed it when I'd had him look over what Derrick had found to make sure it was a good deal. I hadn't noticed it when I'd placed the order. 

UGH, you think they could advertise the fact that this WASN'T a headset a little better. 

Derrick was majorly disappointed. This was a good moment of learning that advertising isn't always truthful. 

I told Derrick he could keep his money and buy something else later. I initiated a return and on Friday Derrick and I took the box to a UPS store to be returned. 

In other news on Thursday I noticed a daffodil trying to poke up through the snow in the front yard. That was encouraging. 

And we finally got our new sign at Aspen Grove. We've had the sign from the social work company that was here before us. It's been very confusing for clients. So it's good to finally have our correct sign. 

Friday was the last day of Third Quarter and some how that felt like a very big deal. It was also a short day. Derrick was done with school at 11:50. Veronica was done at 12:45. The twins were done around 1:30

When I picked Veronica up from school I was able to talk to Kaymie for the first time in a while. She asked me, "Did your kids all finally go to school every day this week."  I thought a moment and said, "Oh my gosh! They did!" Aside from Veronica going a little late on Wednesday all the kids had gone to school and stayed there every day that week. That hasn't happened since late November. 

When Charlotte and Lydia came home it was time to open the school money jar. We'd started this jar about 5 weeks ago as an incentive to get the kids to go to school. They got a dollar for every day they went to school, but we took out two dollars if they stayed home. 

Here are Derrick and Veronica proudly holding the money jar. Charlotte and Lydia were excited about the money too, but they didn't want to be in the picture. And Veronica had had a pajama day at school so that's why she is in her sleeper. 

Then Charlotte started cutting it open. I tried to take this picture of her, but she stood up to get scissors right as I took the picture. 

We got the jar open and started counting the money. There were $76.41 cents in the jar. Divided by 4 that meant that each kid got $19.10. 

Everyone was pretty happy to get the money. 

Brandon was exhausted from his week so he went to take a nap. The kids and I felt like celebrating the end of the quarter. Veronica had been talking about watching Mission Impossible and that reminded me that the kids hadn't seen Mission Impossible 7 yet. So I thought it would be fun to get that movie from Redbox. Except it wasn't on Redbox. Apparently the only way to watch that movie is to stream it on Paramount Plus. So I signed up for a free week of that. 

I made pizza and also went to the store for root beer and ice cream. 

Brandon woke up and we all ate pizza downstairs while watching the movie. It was a fun night. We paused after a sad part and Brandon dished up the ice cream. 

When that movie was over the kids wanted to watch the new Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles movie that was on Paramount Plus. So we had a double feature night and watched that too. 

Saturday was a day of unrealized expectations. I wanted to get so much done on Saturday. And we did get the house clean and we did get a little bit of yard work done so I guess I should be happy about that. 

And I am. The kids all worked together really well to get the house cleaned fast. And I was able to move my compost pile into a new compost bin. Oh and I finished writing a lesson plan about 2 Nephi 31-33 for the Exponent. So I did get stuff done. It wasn't a completely unproductive day.

But I wanted to do more outside. But the weather was not quite warm enough to make it nice enough to stay outside for very long. Derrick and I tried to light a fire in the afternoon so he could have something to do, but all the wood was too wet. And I just ended up feeling uh. 

I took a shower and ended up having a something of a panic attack in the shower. What? Showers are supposed to be relaxing!  I have no idea why I had a panic attack there of all places.

So that was kind of it for the afternoon. I got in bed and just watched reels for a long time. I took a nap. Brandon made hamburgers for dinner and I got up to eat with everyone. Then I went back to watching reels in bed. 

I got up again to see a lego Pirate ship that Veronica made. 

Here's the captains room.

And the crew's room.

Here's a house Charlotte has been working on.

A little later Veronica came in my room and asked if I was going to read to her. I told her I'd read to her in there. She got a new arm chair in her room last week. I sat in it and looked at the books on her book case for the first time in a long time. I was like, "Oh I forgot we had Bunnicula. We should read this." So I started reading her Bunnicula and she loved it. I read it to her in like 2 nights. Then we started reading How to Eat Fried Worms. That's the one we finished on Saturday night. 

Veronica has never really had an attention span for listening to books. Charlotte and Lydia loved listening to me read chapter books around the time they were 4. But Veronica has never been able to just sit and listen - until now!

She wants me to read her Harry Potter. But I think we need to stick with shorter chapter books for a little while. 

After Veronica went to bed I stayed up reading my own book for a while and then fell asleep. 

And thankfully I woke up this morning feeling more like myself. 

Today is the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. I have mixed feelings about that. I'm happy it will be lighter in the evenings. But oh, mornings are going to suck this week. 

Today doesn't suck though. We have Stake Conference and we always stay home and watch it via zoom. I would have loved a zoom link when we were living in Alabama and we had to drive 30 minutes with 4 little kids and then try to keep them quiet for 2 hours in the Relief Society room. So I figure I've done my time. I'm watching it via zoom. 

And today is supposed to be warmer than yesterday so hopefully we can get out on a little hike this afternoon. 

Anyway, thanks for reading.