It's That Time of Year Again!

It's time for school to start. I my opinion, thought, it's way too hot for school to start. I remember playground duty the first couple of months of school....HOT!!! This is the time of year when I get the urge to go back to school, go back to work at the school....do something school related!! I did get my bulletin board fix a couple of weeks ago when I helped Brian get his boards done in his classroom. They look great, too! And next week will start the paper grading again, so I guess I'll be okay!!
I've been busy since the reunion, but mostly boring busy. Know what I mean? Last week I helped Brian one day with his kids while he attended a district math meeting/workshop. On Friday, Mark and I went to Casa Grande to take Matthew and Emma school shopping. They'll be attending a new charter school this year and will be wearing uniforms. Matthew's things were easy to find, but Emma's...no so much. We decided to look in Phoenix for what she still needed. Over the weekend we had a sleepover with Hattie and Ellie. What fun that was! Ok, Saturday was fun, Sunday was tiring! On Saturday we went to Target to finish up some shopping for Emma for school. The first store we went to had everything she still needed! Lucky us. So we called Dan and arranged a meeting in Chandler. We met for lunch at Saigon for some Pho. Yummy! Dan's kids LOVE it, but Hattie and Ellie weren't so sure. They were troopers, though, and tried it without complaint. Then Dan mentioned that the reason they came to the valley was for an entertainment center at Sam's Club. Problem was it wouldn't fit in their car with all of the seats in, so they would have to come back next week without kids. We offered to help. So we put on of our seats down, put Ellie and I in their car, and Dan, Mark and Hattie in our car with the entertainment center and off we went to their house. That baby was HEAVY!!! But after a time, we got it out of the car, unpacked, and all set up. It looks great!! Then we and the girls headed back to the valley. It was a long day, but fun. The girls loved playing with Matthew and Emma....at least until Matthew donned his Star Wars Storm Trooper helmet that alters your voice when you speak into the microphone piece. The girls were both scared. It was funny....they come from an all girl family and just aren't used to boys and their antics! The girls went to bed just fine on Saturday night, but Hattie woke up at 2 am and didn't want to go back to sleep. She did lay in her bed for a while with her eyes wide open. We tried her in our bed with us, but with the same result. So at 5:30 am, we finally got up with her. We went to church and other than a little grumpiness, it went fine. The girls were good during church (just not so good at whispering!) and we went home afterwards hoping for a nap for Hattie. She did finally go down after lunch for a couple of hours. We returned them home that evening.
Last night was the August Enrichment meeting. It was a swim party/BBQ. But we didn't BBQ anything. We had macaroni salads, fried chicken and brownies. The food was good, but the weather was so darned HOT!! I was glad when it was time to go home to our cool, air-conditioned home.
Today I will be getting things organized for another couple of days with grandkids. Tomorrow Libby and Eliza are coming over. Libby earned a day of jewelry making with me and Eliza has been wanting to make a Summertime Album like one I made recently. So we'll be busy with that. Then on Friday we're taking them, along with Abby and Dallin shopping for school clothes. Should be a fun couple of days!!
And I teach this week in Relief Society. The lesson is The Wentworth Letter. If you're going to be there on Sunday, be sure to read the lesson....we'll be having a DISCUSSION!
Anyway....on to crafty organization!!

Black Friday

Mark and I were up and out early this morning. First stop was Wal-Mart for some grandkid gifts that were on sale. Then we headed to Target and Joann's. Mark went to Target and I went to Joann's. He got some more grandkid gifts on sale and I purchased flannel for various projects. We started at about 4:45 am and were home by 7 am. Then we took a well-deserved morning nap. After we woke up, we went back to Joann's for more flannel....I didn't get enough that was good for boys earlier, so we stood in long lines this time. There's a lot to be said about missing the rush by getting up early. Then we met Dad, Aunt Dovetta, Brian, Kamille and their kids at Chick-Fil-A for lunch. AFter that, we went to Westgate to a new business called RideMakerZ. It's a car-themed Build a Bear sort of store, but more for boys. We had received a free one in the mail a while back and the free offer expires this Sunday, so we were a little under the gun. We let Dallin build the car. It was a green Mustang and he (and his dad!) had a great time selecting the various parts and assembling the car. I'm glad it was free (or at least most of it was), since we figured it would have been VERY pricey otherwise...something we probably wouldn't choose to do. But Dallin had fun with it.

Our next stop of the day was to pick Ellie up for her birthday sleepover. She was giddy with excitement. She had her backpack all ready and her sleeping bed by the front door. We let her choose a place for dinner, and she chose Sardella's for a plain cheese pizza. She wanted to shop for her gift tonight and she wanted to go to Wal-Mart. She choose a new baby doll, two Fisher-Price baby play sets--one is a naptime baby and the other is a bathtime baby. Her last choice was a miniature Cabbage Patch baby with a tricycle. When we were at the store, rather than askingn if she could buy those items, she wanted to "borrow" them. I think she doesn't understand the difference. Maybe it's because she borrows things from our house and keeps them at her house for a while....until she thinks they're hers!!
She had a great time tonight getting them all out of the packaging and playing with them. She's got her sleeping bag on the living room floor and she's watching The Polar Express for about the 100th time!! She (and her dad) love that movie! Tomorrow, her plans are to go to Build-A-Bear (for her Saturday activity) and then we'll take her home. I almost forgot....she requested Pop Tarts for breakfast and when she learned she got that and her own personal chocolate milk, she put both hands to her mouth, gasped and then giggled! I wish more people could be as innocent and unassuming as little Ellie.