I hate coming up with titles!

Happy Birthday, Janet! I hope you had a wonderful day.

I need to get caught up here, so here is an overview of our week.

Monday: Eleanor had her last cheering class. When Zoe found out it was the last time she had to get in the car after riding the bus home to go pick up Eleanor from cheering, she was VERY happy! I'm glad cheering is over, too.

Remember awhile ago when Noah started sleeping in a "bed" beside our bed? Well, that didn't last and Matt was getting tired of Noah kicking him and sleeping on his head, so Noah had his first night in the crib. He slept from 10:30ish to 6:30ish in the morning, which was so nice! I still need to get him to fall asleep on his own, but having him sleep in the crib is progress. Kate was more than willing to sleep on the floor with the big kids. She said Noah could sleep in her crib.

Tuesday: I took Zach, Kate, and Noah to the park, we ran some errands with a stop at the credit union and the grocery store, and then we stopped here at my parents' house, so I could update my blog. Zach and Kate sat on the swing on the porch and watched "Dragon Tales" and ate their lollipops from the credit union. Noah played the game of climbing up the stairs after I put him on the porch to play. He would play for a few minutes, crawl to the stairs and climb them, wait for me to get him, then he would stand up and I would pick him up and then we started all over again as I put him on the porch. He had lots of fun!

Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor went in 3 different directions Tuesday night, so we enlisted my mom's help. My mom took Zoe to her softball practice. Noah and I took Eleanor to her portfolio night at school where she showed me some of the work she has done this year. Matt took Emily, Zach, and Kate to most of Emily's baseball practice and then they headed to Emily's school for portfolio night. We got done at Eleanor's school earlier than I expected, so we waited for Matt in the parking lot. We decided that Eleanor, Noah, and I would go in with Emily to see some of the work she has done this year and Matt would take Zach and Kate home. We were all reunited a little after 7pm. It was a crazy evening!

I put Noah in his crib around midnight, he woke up a few hours later, and then he was up around 5:45am. We figured the first night was beginner's luck and we were right.

Wednesday: Zach finally got his picture taken. :-) He did very well. During this session, the photographer took about 6 pictures and then she let me choose which picture I wanted for the package. Nice! I really like the picture that we're getting. Zach was confused when the lady handed me a piece of paper instead of his pictures, so I explained to him that we had to wait until his pictures were ordered and printed before we could get them. He's anxious to bring his pictures home! The company has changed its rules about when another appointment can be made, so now we have to wait until the next advertised package is available, which is June 20th to make another appointment. I used to wait about 3 weeks in between pictures, but now it looks like I'll have to wait 4 weeks or so. It will be September by the time all of the kids' pictures are taken, but it's the inexpensive way to go.

We went to the park before going home. The kids fell asleep on the way home, so I worked outside while they slept. There were a lot of dead leaves near the steps that I raked up and I cleaned off our porch.

Zoe had a softball game in the evening. The kids stayed with my mom, so that was nice. I didn't get to see Zoe play because by the time she was put into the game, I was in the car feeding Noah and I couldn't see the field from the car. I don't think she got up to bat, but she played in the outfield. Her team played Emery's and they always lose to Emery's. There are only 3 teams in the league, so Zoe's team loses every other game. They have fun, though.

Thursday: A hot, hot day! We don't have our air conditioner in yet, so the house was like a sauna in the afternoon. I pushed the kids on the swing for awhile, but I didn't have much energy. Zach was ready to go inside after he got stung. He was swinging and then he started to cry and he kept saying "bug!, bug!". I didn't see anything and I had no idea what he was freaking out about. When I stopped him, he showed me his leg as he cried and I could see that something had stung him. I'm assuming it was a yellow jacket since I have seen a lot of them around lately, but I didn't see anything flying around as I was pushing him on the swing. Zach put some ice on his leg and settled in to watch "Scooby Doo". The kids keep bringing home "Scooby Doo" movies from my parents' house, so we have quite a few of them right now. Eleanor used to be scared of "Scooby Doo" and she still is a bit, but now all of my kids like to watch those movies.

Matt was home in the evening, so he watched the kids while I took Emily to her baseball practice. My mom came to the practice, so we talked and played with Noah while we watched Emily. My mom took Emily home and she took Noah with her so I could stop and put gas in the Yukon and pick up some sandwiches. We met back at my parents' house to eat our sandwiches and watch "Glenn Beck". Then we played a game of Phase 10. Noah slept the entire time. :-)

I'm still good at putting Noah in his crib before I go to bed, but I'm getting lazy in the middle of the night after I feed him, so he ends up in our bed.

Friday: It was another hot day, but not as bad as Thursday. I took Zach, Kate, and Noah to the Children's Museum. Zach was very excited when I told him where we were going. We parked in the parking garage and then walked about half a block to the museum. Zach and Kate were so cute as they walked hand in hand. Zach was carrying his backpack. Noah was content most of the day to sit in the stroller. I thought Zach and Kate would like the "meet the animals" activity, which is one of the reasons we went to the museum that day, but Zach freaked out. I'm still not sure if he was mad because he wanted to go play with the boats instead or if he was scared of the little turtle and tortoise, but he kept screeching in short bursts. We stayed long enough to learn a few facts and to touch the turtle and tortoise (Zach did not touch them) and then we went back to playing. Zach and Kate played with the boats for a long time. Kate cried when it was time to leave "her" pink boat so we could go eat lunch in the snack room. I let Noah roam free for a bit near the boat and Brazil area. The drums were a big hit with Noah and with Kate, too. We ended our day in the Goodnight Moon room. I read part of the book to Zach and he had fun finding things in the room that are in the book. Kate was cute as she fed "her" teddy bear some mush. Overall, it was quite a delightful day.

Matt and I ordered chinese food and then we went to my parents' house with Noah to eat. We ate way too much! Matt had had a tough day at work and the chinese food didn't sit well with him, my stomach hurt from eating too much, the kids were being wild at home, so we decided to head home after we ate. The kids were not happy to see us home early. We let them finish watching "Parent Trap" and my mom and I played Phase 10. It was a bit chaotic, but we made it through the game and I actually won!

Saturday: I spent most of the day with Eleanor and Noah. Eleanor had T-ball in the morning. My parents stopped by for a few minutes to watch her. I let Noah play in the grass, which he loved! T-ball went a bit over, so a lot of the kids (mostly girls) were losing interest as they waited in the infield for the ball to be hit. Eleanor had her glove (or as Kate says "glub") on the ground and she was twirling. The sight of another girl laying in the dirt cracked me up. Eleanor was happy when it was over because it was time to go shopping! She had a Claire's gift card from Christmas to spend and she had some birthday money to spend. We stopped at Old Navy first to hit the big flip flop sale. Thanks PJ for putting the sale on Facebook because Matt saw it and then told me about it when I mentioned that I wanted to buy Kate a pair of flip flops. You are awesome! I bought Kate and Matt a pair of flip flops and Eleanor bought herself a more expensive pair for $3.50. I fed Noah and then we went to Claire's. Eleanor fell in love with the mall! She found a purse in Claire's that came with 3 little toy dogs. The purse opens up and becomes a little house or something for the dogs. Eleanor used her gift card and some of her cash to buy it. She had a dollar and some change left, so we headed over to Target to hit the dollar spot. She found some hair glitter to buy and I bought her a pair of church shoes. We went to McDonalds for lunch and then we went over to Goodwill. I got rid of some bags that were in the back of the Yukon and I looked at clothes inside. I'd like some "new" church outfits, but I didn't see anything that I couldn't live without, so we looked at the kids' clothes. Zoe and Emily could use some "new" shorts, but I ended up buying Eleanor a couple pairs of jean shorts and I bought Emily a pair of jean capri pants, but she didn't like them and they fit Zoe, so now they are Zoe's. I fed Noah again and then our last stop was at the grocery store and then we went home. It was around 4:30pm when we finally got home. Matt was beginning to wonder what had happened to us. I don't go shopping with the kids very often, which is why Eleanor was finally spending a gift card from Christmas, because it does become an all-day event, and usually we don't have money to spend. I wish we had spent our money more wisely this weekend, but what is done is done. I will do better the next time we have money.

Matt and my mom left our house this morning at 6:30 to travel to Dover for their unit conference. The kids and I went to Ellsworth. My lesson went well and Zach gave his first talk in Primary today. He wasn't nervous at all and he did a great job. :-)