My house is a lab and a learning center...

This week we had the last of our strep--I think! Monday, was Martin Luther King Day. Tim caught Izak's cold and tried to rest a little but ended up playing dodge ball with some of the younger kids (Emily on down) with some neighbors at a local Junior High--one of the dads is the vice principal there. They had a lot of fun. Timo and his friends worked on their Spanish video. Taran went ice skating with some friends, it was sort of a date. He was still getting over his cold but seemed to get himself up for that. We had a low key family night and watched Winnie the Pooh Valentine, it is really cute. We were all laughing. What was I doing? I did my usual shopping and made dinner.

Tuesday I ended up taking Micah in for a strep test, he passed, I mean he had it! He was running a fever and complained about his throat. Izak stayed home because his cough had kept him up in the night. He worked on his Native Utah Indian project, check it out in the collage it's a Goshute Wiki-Up. Emily has been working on her science fair project so the kitchen looks like a lab of sorts. I sort of organized my magnetic board so check it out in the collage. I have place for each kid to 'hang' their stuff, a calendar, the chore chart and photos we get from school and relatives also posted, coupons, invitations...my desk looks better I just need to get rid of the rest of the stuff! I did scouts Tuesday, luckily we had leftovers so I didn't need to make anything for dinner. Emily had basketball. Izak missed scouts and basketball. Timo went to a lacrosse try out, orginaly he was not going to go because he is new to the sport. But the high school coach wanted them to at least get a face with a name for the freshman coach and so that we could pay our fees. Yes, folks high school sports are not free! or cheap!

Wednesday Micah was still home since he hadn't been on the antibiotic 24 hours. I left him home while Gwen was at playgroup and I had my permanent crown put on. He was fine, he watched Prince Caspian. Emily had musical theater after school. Timo had scouts and Jr Jazz basketball practice. Taran had scouts early and then went to the AF vs LP basketball game a rivalry game. LP won!

Thursday everyone went to school! Gwen's friend Max came over for a little bit and then Zane friend Camden came over after kindergarten--he doesn't live in the neighborhood. I took them sledding. They were both really sweet to take turns taking Gwen down--I am still nervous since my back surgery last year. My dad came over for a visit. Emily interviewed him. Izak and Micah worked on all their make up work...it took until 8:30 PM. They didn't want it over the weekend. Emily's piano got canceled the piano teacher had a sore throat--not our fault! Tim refereed some basketball games that night.

Friday I watched my niece Holly and nephew Anders while their mom Katie got a check up. She has lass than 2 weeks left. Her doctor is near us so that's why we are convenient. They had fun. Zane and his friend Marc were cute with him most of the time. We had a nice visit. Tim stayed home in the morning trying to rest to get better and trying to get a song ready for a funeral Saturday. An older man who his father worked with at Eyring, died of some type of cancer. So one of Tim's co-workers from Novell organized a group of guys who had worked with this man from Eyring, Novell and the church to sing and Tim got put in charge of the musical selection. So that's really what he did instead of rest. I was able to go to the tmeple when Taran got home from school. That was really nice. When I got home Emily and Izak had gone to Walmart. Through a mix up she sent him home, alone and stayed to find something she thought she had lost at Walmart (a bracelet a friend had made her). So Tim on his way home tried to find her and could not--paged her at Walmart but she did not hear! So he was distraught when he left with Izak for his basketball game. I wasn't worried just annoyed. She finally showed up and found the bracelet later in the laundry room! So they are grounded from going to Walmart, which you could have guessed. Taran and friends tried to ask girls to the Sweethearts Dance but it was a blizzard and they couldn't see a thing. Izak's game went well then he went to a birthday party where they played dodge ball, yep same family! He had a lot of fun.

Saturday, Emily had an early basketball game so Tim took her. I let the other kids sleep in and it was so beautiful and white, serene as the sun came up. Tim left soon after he got back to meet up with the other guys to practice the song for the funeral, it went well. He was gone until almost 3PM! Timo and Taran a church ball game that didn't go well but they seemed to survive it all. Timo had to be at his school at 4 PM to catch the bus to Salt Lake for with his choir. They have an honor choir of junior high students from all over Utah are chosen and go for 2 days to work with a special conductor. They invited 2 junior high choirs to perform at the concert with this honor choir (separately)and Timo's choir was one of them. It was pretty cool. Timo's choir is the best junior high choir I've ever heard. The honor choir was amazing all those talented kids singing together! One of the kids from our neighborhood was in it, so it was fun to see him and his family there. Taran and Emily kept the fort down while we were gone. We took Timo out to eat after--Tim and I actually ate before so we just got shakes. Apparently they fed them but Timo eats quite a bit these days. It was fun because we got to watch the Jazz and BYU play basketball while we ate--they both won. When we got home Taran left to try and ask again! We hope he hears back soon since she has our toaster! Yep, it's weird but hey it was HIS idea!

Tim conducted the choir in a song in church today and it was really nice. Church seemed especially good today. I was deeply touched by the talks, lessons and prayers. The teenagers have a fireside (special speakers) tonight and our kids are singing the youth choir.

I have finally settled into the fact that my home is not a picture from a magazine. It's a lab and learning center. Most of my time is spent helping my kids in some form of homework and trying to teach them principles that will bring them peace and joy. I was frustrated this week because I thought I would finally have time to tackle some organizing projects but my children needed me more than the organizing did. So maybe this week...Not that I ever thought I was capable of a magazine picture type room but I think most women would agree that their home is their territory and when it is not in order it is unsettling. I can live with temporary chaos like all of Emily's bags of dirt, mud and rocks on the kitchen counter and her experiment in the window. So wish me luck! Have a great week, the last week in January! Wow, that went fast!