If I thought last week was busy....

I am officially pooped.   As in tired.    Exhausted.    Ready for summer break.

It always seems as though the last month or so of school are the busiest of the entire year, and I must be getting old, because I'm having a hard time keeping up with it all.    I don't know what I'd do without the Large Calendar in my kitchen that tells me what is going on and when.  Without it- I'd be lost right now;)     So, here is another recap of another busy, BUT FUN, week:

Monday:   brought my favorite event of the year- Abby's piano recital.   I can't say enough about how much I love this event.   For starters it is the culmination of a year of practice and lessons, and the promise of 90 seconds on stage is all the compensation Abby needs;)  haha.   For me, it always reaffirms in my heart that the struggle it takes to get her to actually practice each day is so completely worth it!   In all fairness, Abby has been more willing to exert herself this year then in previous years, and I think she is starting to see what a little bit of effort can do.  (Though she still is not willing to admit that to me;)  I recently heard an awesome talk that compared piano lessons to the atonement, and it has changed the way I think of both ;)    I'm convinced that we are doing a good thing by making Abby learn this skill, and I am pretty sure she will thank us for it one day;)

Abby's piano teacher is one of my favorite people ever!  I just love Betsy, and I think she deserves a medal for the patient, kind way she teaches my slacker daughter;)   She has so many talented piano students and I always enjoy hearing them perform.    Abby did GREAT and even played a duet with Mya which was super fun to watch!   

Good job Abby! 

(and Bless you Betsy!! ;)

Tuesday was an exceptionally busy day.    I had been asked to be a chaperon parent for Abby's junior Choir field trip to Lethbridge.   We left at 9:00am for Lethbridge and went neon bowling.   A couple of things I learned while helping out:  1) I am incredibly inept when it comes to keeping 4  eight and nine year olds happy on a bus for very long;)   2) The same silly games I played as a kid, are still fun for kids today.  (go figure?)   3) Abby has zero inhibitions when it comes to dancing in front of others.  She danced more then she bowled, and she didn't care one bit what others thought of it.
I LOVED her for that!

We arrived back shortly before school got out, and my head hurt from the fun of it all;)    

Later that evening, John and I got to attend the local Band Concert, and I enjoyed it immensely.
Like... LOVED it!   It's seriously so fun to watch these talented youth do what they do, and I absolutely can not WAIT until one of my kids are part of this.   I could totally see Sam on the drums, no? ;)

In between all of that, I managed to turn 32 years old that day.    The morning started out kinda rough and cranky as we all rushed to get ready for our separate schedules.  Sam did NOT want to go to school, and thought I was the meanest person ever for making him.   Abby was annoyed with the world (because that's what a 9 year old is supposed to be like in the morning;), and Nate wouldn't let us put anything on him besides his pajamas from the night before.    Finally, I had had enough and I made it clear to everyone that it was MY birthday - therefore they all had to start being a whole lot nicer!  

 (It's so great to see that I'm so mature at age 32 eh?)  

After our super busy day-  we had a fun supper together, enjoyed some lovely flowers that some kind friends dropped by, and finished the night with this delicious "triple layer, white chocolate, Raspberry Cake", made by Jewel.   ( So so so good! )  

Wednesday - I got to accompany Jessica to the annual "Tumble and Tweet" event that the preschool holds each year for all the preschool students and their parents.  It's a fun evening in which Jess got to show off the things she has learned in gymnastics this year, and then we built a bird house together.   Things I learned during this event:   1) Jessica is quite the gymnast.  She's crazy flexible, and really has a knack for climbing, hanging, and tumbling.  I think I need to put her into gymnastics one year.   2) I am not very good with a hammer.    (Or maybe I'm not good with following directions..?)   At any rate- this simple little bird house kinda stressed me out.   Luckily, there were a couple of friends nearby who let me copy what they were doing- and even stepped in to help a time or two.  Phew!    Jessica painted it the next day, and that cute little bird house is now happily sitting in our crab apple tree.
I think it looks pretty good!!!

Friday - was Abby's track and field day and I went up to watch some of the events.    Abby makes me laugh, because she is actually quite athletic but she doesn't really care about the whole competition part of it, and as a result never really bothers to exert herself.   She just kinda does things for the fun of it I guess:)   I got a kick out of watching her compete in the high jump, as she had this funky ...headfirst.... forward dive technique, that actually looked quite painful.    It must have worked for her though, because she ended up placing 2nd!    And of course, she was simply having fun;)

Thursday and Friday evening consisted of High School Graduation events.  Thursday was the Grad Ceremony which was fun to attend, and Friday was the Grad Banquet.   Earlier that week, John had been asked to fill in for a teacher who was no longer able to give the Teachers reply at the Banquet.   I think John felt kinda nervous about how to go about it, but I was super proud of him, and was glad to get to accompany him to that.    I always like hearing John speak, and he really thinks so highly of these students he gets to teach!   

  

Saturday - I pretty much shut down, and went into my own little world of sewing costumes and such for our upcoming Moroni's Quest.   It's coming up fast, and I needed to get this stuff done tout suite!  (It's been nagging at me;)  

While I sewed, the kids managed to exist, though for the life of me, I have no clue what they did all that time.   Somewhere around 2:00 they all started acting hungry or something, but I wasn't ready to walk away from the project I was working on.   So...the genius in me suggested that the kids play "restaurant".   It was sheer BRILLIANCE I tell ya!    I've never seen such synergy between them all!  Sam was the waiter.   Jess, Nate and our neighbor Kate were the customers, and Abby was the head chef.   Abby made pancakes and eggs entirely on her own, and together they all managed to tear the kitchen apart and make it look like a certifiable disaster area.  

But it was. so. so. very. worth.it!  

I'm looking forward to this next week as it means we are one step closer to Summer!   

Only a few more weeks to go!!!!