Now that we've caught up on all the vacation recaps its time to catch up on the nearly 4 weeks of things that have happened since we got back from our vacation.
A LOT has happened. There have been concerts, and tests, and chickens, and flowers, and work (so much work), and field trips, and play rehearsals, and scripture study, and school, and new phones, and community events, and naps, and church, and some sightseeing, and a visit from family, and more flowers, and weeding the flowers, and planting flowers, and on and on with all the little things that make up normal life.
This post is going to cover from Monday April 15 -through Sunday April 21st. It's basically a compilation of what my calendar says happened, pictures that I took, and some things that I remember.
Normally when I plan a vacation I like to put some buffer days between coming home and going back to school or work. Ideally we would have come home late on Friday night and then spent Saturday and Sunday unpacking and resting. That way we could be ready to fully re-enter our lives.
But if I'd done that on this trip it would have meant cutting out the days we spent in Galveston. And really what's the point of driving all the way to Texas if you don't go see the Gulf of Mexico?
So we came back Sunday night and turned right around and went back to school and work on Monday.
Brandon went to bed around midnight Sunday night and then was at work at 5:30 on Monday. I don't know how he does that.
I got the kids up for the day around 7:15. They actually all got up okay. Veronica really missed her teacher so she was probably the most excited to go back to school.
When I dropped Derrick off at the Middle School office he started telling our friend Kerri about the trip - he gave her the very detailed version that included stopping at the train station rest stop and sleeping at a Motel 6 on our first day of driving.
I think Charlotte and Lydia were excited to see their friends again and tell them the stories of our trip.
After everyone was at school I came home because I knew that at least one person in the family was going to need a buffer day and that person was me. I'd told my co-workers at Aspen Grove that I might answer emails that day, but not to expect me in the office until Tuesday. And I didn't even bother with emails.
I went around and took pictures of my flowers. These are the tulips I'd seen in the car's headlights the night before.
It's always so fun to see all this color. I'm glad I didn't miss their blooms this year.
The tree also had some tiny leaves forming.
I went in the back yard and looked the blossoms on the pear tree.
And the peach tree.
And one of the cherry trees. The other tree was about to bloom, but then there was a big of a cold snap. So they didn't quite bloom together. I'm not sure if I'll have any sweet cherries this year.
Here's another view of the tulips.
I love this fuzzy daffodil.
I did eventually wander into work at Castle Therapy. It took about an hour to catch up on things there. One therapist is definitely easier than fifteen.
Then I picked up Derrick from his school. We took the rental van to a car wash so we could use the vacuums. The suction wasn't great so we ended up going home and using our own vacuum to finish.
The van had so much sand, and granola, and gold fish all over the floor. I got it all vacuumed out and then used a microfiber cloth to wipe down the seats. Someone had dropped gum on the carpet in the back so I got that up with rubbing alcohol.
I took this picture to remember that we'd put 3757.3 miles on the van during our trip. Whew!
I drove the van back to Enterprise Rental to return it. Brandon met me there when he was done with work. We got the van returned without any problems. I was really happy with the whole process with renting from Enterprise. I think we'll do this again. It was definitely cheaper than buying a new van.
Veronica came home and a little bit later Charlotte and Lydia came home with Aurora and Gwen in tow. Brandon was so tired, but Gwen mentioned she needed help with her math homework. So Brandon sat down with her a the table and helped her with the homework.
After the other twins left Brandon sat on the couch and fell asleep.
This was the type of day where I knew it was best to not expect much from anybody. So everyone just kind of laid around all afternoon. Charlotte and Lydia had done ISAT make up tests at school that morning. So they were pretty happy to be doing nothing that afternoon.
The girls hung out on the grass in the back yard.
I'd gone to the store after we got home the night before. I'd bought milk and eggs for breakfast. I'd aldo bought two big bags of orange chicken. I made that for dinner on Monday night. It was the perfect combination of easy - and yet filling.
Brandon woke up enough to eat dinner and then laid down on our bed and fell fast asleep.
Derrick was a little antsy and really wanted to play with his stomp rocket. But the weather was really windy and so he was (rightfully) worried that it would blow into someones yard. So I took all the kids to the park.
I sat in the car and listened to a podcast while the kids ran into the field and played with the stomp rocket. The made up a game where Charlotte, Lydia, and Veronica would lay in the grass. Derrick would launch the rocket and try to get it to land on one of his sisters. They did this for over an hour and a half.
Then we came home and it was time for everyone to go to bed. Brandon woke up enough to get under the covers of the bed. Usually, if he has a nap during the day he has trouble sleeping at night. But this time he slept all night long. That man was tired.
Tuesday was my first "real" day back. I was at Aspen Grove most of the morning. It took me until Friday to feel totally on top of things again, but overall things had gone well while I was out of town. It was really nice to have someone cover my job while I was out.
In the afternoon I had to take all three kids to the orthodontist. Normally Derrick's appointments are about a week earlier than Charlotte and Lydia's. But we were out of town for Derrick's normal appointment week so it was pushed to the same week as Charlotte and Lydia's. And then there happened to be 3 appointment times available together.
So all three kids went back and had their braces adjusted at the same time. I took this picture to commemorate what I thought would be a rare occurrence. And then immediately was able to schedule another triple appointment for May. And that's probably how things will work out for the summer too. So I guess it wasn't that rare.
Derrick has wanted "gold" bands every time they change his bands. But this time he wanted "rainbow." Somehow I never got a picture, but they looked cool.
Lydia got elastics that she wore night and day. And Charlotte just had everything tightened. She already has elastics that she wears at night.
Monday had been Brandon's afternoon to rest. Tuesday was mine. Brandon took care of dinner and I think even went grocery shopping while I took a long nap.
He also took care of some phone calls that I just didn't have any brain power for. We'd promised the kids that they could get chicks after our vacation. So it was time to do that. But I didn't want to just show up at a store and there not be any chicks. So Brandon called around. No one had any that day, but the Valley Wide Country Store in Buhl was supposed to get a lot of different kinds on Wednesday.
Wednesday was kind of a cold and dreary day. It was really encouraging to look outside and see my tulips being all springy.
I did a Scripture study group on Wednesday morning. We were on chapter 10 of Mosiah and honestly, I didn't have much prepared, but somehow it went really well anyway.
The Middle School kids had ISAT tests and so Derrick's schedule was wonky. I picked him up right after lunch at 11:35 and then picked up Veronica for her therapy. Derrick and I hung out in the lobby while Veronica had therapy and then we all went home. (Veronica had a substitute and so she wasn't interested in going back to school.)
I went to work after Brandon came home from work. I was able to get more caught up on things.
But the real news of Wednesday was going to get the chicks! As soon as Charlotte and Lydia were at home we all got in the car and drove out to Buhl.
We went into the store and could immediately hear little chicks peeping. They were in some some like towers with drawers with the different chickens. It was like a chick tower.
Charlotte picked out a Rhode Island Red and named her Rosy.
Lydia picked out a Buff Orpington and named her Poppy.
Derrick also picked out a Buff Orpington and named her Gin'ga (like the the chicken on Chicken Run.)
And Veronica picked out an Americana and named her Poppy (after trying out several other names first.)
Here they are in their little box that the store put them in.
We came home and I helped the kids set up all the stuff that my sister Emily had given me for chicks. We'd bought food and wood shavings at the store. Emily had given us an old pack and play for the brooder. She also gave us lights and a food and water feeder.
Here the chicks are in their new home.
They were so small and fluffy.
The kids sat and watched them for a long time.
The little chicks spent a lot of time huddled together.
Charlotte has been dreaming of having chicks for years so she was so happy to finally have them. All the kids loved their chicks, but none of this would have happened without Charlotte spearheading the building of the coop.
And so far I really like having chickens. They are so much EASIER than a dog. We don't have to really worry about socializing them. They just live in the pack in play in the garage and we check on them every once in a while. And eventually they will move out to the coop in the back yard. Yep, so much easier than a dog.
Thursday
I have no memory or pictures of Thursday. My calendar says that Veronica had vision therapy. It also says that Brandon had an electrical job. Now that I think about that, I do remember Thursday. Brandon had a coworker who asked him to come help run electricity to a shed or something. So Brandon helped out with that as kind of a favor that he got paid really well for. He did it on this Thursday and also the next Thursday.
Speaking of Brandon's projects. Somewhere in here our washing machine broke. Which is like the second time in nearly 16 years of continuous operation that that machine has ever had a problem. A necklace or something had somehow ended up in the motor.
So Brandon brough a new part and fixed the machine on Friday. It was a little annoying, but we'd done all of our laundry before our trip so we had plenty of clean clothes, and I'd actually kept up well enough on washing socks and underwear while we were travelling that we didn't need to do laundry until Friday anyway.
A week later he also fixed our microwave. It's so good having a handy husband.
Friday is another day that I don't remember much. I think we were all just happy to have made it through the week.
Here are more flower pictures. I was very happy to see that my Carl Forrester Grass had survived the transplant and the winter.
Also this is something of a before picture because over the weekend I would get all the grass out from along the neighbors concrete. I don't think I ever took an after picture.
We spent Saturday getting the house put back together. There had been back packs and random things all over the living room. I still had a tote full of Easter decorations in the living room. And all the camping things were piled on the patio.
So the house needed some work. Plus there was a lot of laundry that needed to be run through the newly fixed machine.
After all that was done we worked on chicken coop and yard stuff.. Charlotte and Lydia asked for some old sheets so they could make a tent. They ended up constructing THIS.
The "sewed" the sides together with a stapler.
Lydia was quite proud of it.
I was pretty impressed.
I moved the compost pile. It was really cool to take the sides off and see all the layers.
And here's a picture of the chicks.
Sunday was our first normal week back at church for like 4 weeks. We hadn't been there on the 14th. And we hadn't been there the 7th (which was conference weekend anyway.) And March 31st had just been Sacrament meeting because it was Easter.
So it was kind of strange getting back into the swing of things at church.
After church I think I took a long nap, but honestly I don't remember.
And here's more chick pictures.
Anyway, that was our first week back. It was rough in some spots but we got through it.
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