Week 12 - Spring Break in Arizona

Spring Break was in Arizona. Our friends invited us to come work! Home improvement projects are one of my favorite activities - painting, gardening, pulling up carpet, putting in new flooring, amongst other work projects.

The task was pulling wallpaper - three rooms of wallpaper.

The boys got the spring break of their dreams. They played with friends, games, Legos, jumped on the trampoline, went to the park, and watched movies. Yet  we took their piano books to practice while my friend and I pulled wallpaper. Every so often they were called up to pick up the pieces of the wallpaper that we dropped on the floor.

Merris, Sweetheart's sister, gave her husband a kidney the week before we came. We didn't tell them we were coming because we didn't know how things were going. On Sunday before heading to church, we came to the house and surprised their family.

The night before we asked about ice cream toppings. One of their cousin's reaction was shock. Luckily we got to see Grandma, Aunt Yvette, and our Arizona family.

One day the boys' cousin came and played for the day; a different day their Auntie took the nephews and niece to a museum. They got to swimming with their cousin and his friends. We are so grateful for the kindness of family! We are so happy to have spent time together.

Our annual tradition of getting an free cone at Dairy Queen.

Sweetheart got one in Colorado.

We went to the one in Arizona with our friends.

While we were in Arizona, Sweetheart did a significant amount of work on the Honda Pilot. He replaced the front and rear shocks, power steering pump, a arms, inner and outer tie rods, rear brakes, water pump, timing belt, accessory belt, belt tensioner, spark plugs, power steering fluid flush, new coolant, new transmission fluid, and an oil change. He has left to change starter, valve cover gaskets, and power steering fluid flush. He would go to work, the chiropractor, and work on the car.

We flew stand by gratefully. We usually drive everywhere so this might be a surprise. Picking a flight to come home was more challenging than we thought because of my indecisiveness. We were enjoying ourselves so much but missed Sweetheart. He was concerned that he didn't have the car finished so he encouraged us to stay as long as possible.

Since we were in Arizona, Sweetheart had to make the dessert for our Spanish class. He made homemade pumpkin pie.

I was so proud of him!

The one down thing that happened was when I was putting away the citrus picker after getting Sweetheart citrus was I was hit on the head by a fertilizer spreader that was hung improperly in the garage. My head immediately started to hurt.

Underfoot started to take care of me because he has had a concussion and thought that I had one. Saturday was a little hard because my headache wouldn't go away, and I was significantly irrational and emotional.

We went to an Easter egg hunt and church breakfast. The boys had a marvelous time!

One sad moment during the week was that we learned my sister-in-law's mother passed away from meningitis. She had been hospitalized for a time. We are grateful for the goodness of Stephanie and her life.

*****

 Full Bloom Mesquite Tree

 Crescent Moon

 Water in the Desert

 Grapefruit

 Easter Egg Haul

 Easter Egg Haul

At Supper with my Hostess

 Easter Hunt Haul

 

Treats Brought to the Kidney Patients

Week 11 - Concert and Spring Break Preparations

In Arizona, we never had to do with Daylight Savings. We had quite the discussion on the origin and the reason for continuing Daylight Savings. The boys final vote was that it is stupid.

Before Easter, there was an interfaith musical performance. The three men attended the concert while I attended my self reliance class. They enjoyed the music.

Underfoot participated in an orchestra concert with the other elementary schools in the area. Since the charter school didn't have an after school orchestra at the beginning of the year, Underfoot chose to attend the orchestra he participated in last year.

We take him two days a week to a local elementary school to participate. He really enjoys going. At the concert Hurricane and I helped the students check in for the evening concert and served supper to the musicians as well.

Our Relief Society participated in a hospital comfort dolls service project. Part of the service project was to sew soft bodies and hospital gowns. The dolls are for children who are in the hospital. I helped make five dolls.

I attended the Parent Volunteer Association meeting for the charter school and ended up volunteering for Teacher Appreciation week. I hope that I will get good ideas and work well with the other co-chair.

Underfoot decided to start his first merit badge which is Citizenship in the Community. He called the merit badge counselor and has started to work on the packet.

The Friday before spring break was a teacher workday. The boys had the day off and we played at home.

We prepared to go on our Arizona adventure. On Saturday we flew to Arizona to help a friend.

We arrived and got to play.

*****

 Waiting for the Concert to Begin

Milk, Dawn Soap, and Food Coloring

Cub Scout Activity

 Zen on the Plane

 Plane Ride

Funny Faces

Week 10 - Birthday, Books, and Car Accident

At the boys' school, they have a new music teacher this year. She is amazing. She has taken the music program leaps and bounds from what it was for last year. The boys learned about notes, timing, and songs. This year we could hear the children singing and not the recording that was turned up too loud. The music teacher also wanted each student to be able to have hands on with musical instruments. Third through fifth grade was challenged with the Recorder Karate program.

Underfoot was invited to play his violin, and Hurricane accomplished the 9th degree black belt for recorder karate. They have really enjoyed music this year. Their concert was this week, and each boy did marvelous.

Underfoot celebrated his birthday this week. He requested I make him a cake. The cake transformed from a simple book to The Monster Book of Monsters from Harry Potter. Since his birthday was the same evening as Scouts, we made a large cake and took the cake to share with the pack and with his new Boy Scout patrol.

There was a special pack meeting held so that underfoot and another scout could crossover from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.

He requested orange and chocolate flavor cake with fondant. We did our very best, and it took all day to make.

To celebrate Underfoot's birthday, his gift was to invite two friends and take them to a movie. In our family, our policy is to read the book before seeing a movie. Underfoot had previously read the books, and Hurricane had worked really hard to finish reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle and Wonder by R. J. Palacio.

Underfoot invited two friends and his brother to pizza and see A Wrinkle in Time in the theater. The boys enjoyed watching the movie and doing a comparison to the book. After the movie at the theater, we attended the school's movie night, and watched the movie Wonder. When we voted on which movie we liked better, it was unanimous about the movie wonder.

While we were in the theater, I received a message from Sweetheart saying he had been in a car accident. He didn't include if he was OK or if he was on his way to the emergency room. He had been rear ended by a pick up truck going too fast. Insurance was exchanged, and Sweetheart came home sore from being hit. He saw a chiropractor the next day to begin treatment for the accident. The Prius was damaged only in the bumper. We are waiting to see how that works out.

We were assigned to clean the chapel for Sunday services on Saturday morning. We went to the church Friday night after the movies and clean the church since we were getting passports on Saturday morning.

In preparation for our summer plans, we have applied for passports. Since the boys need to have a parent present at the post office to receive their passport, we found a passport only post office that is open on Saturdays. We went and got in line to get passports. We arrived 30 minutes before the office opened and were seen an hour and a half later. Unfortunately Hurricane missed his first soccer game.

After receiving some blood work back, the OB/GYN has requested that I go and see a cardiologist, an endocrinologist, a hematologist, and a fertility doctor. She isn't sure about all of my blood results. I saw the cardiologist. The cardiologist said that I looked great, and we have a established a baseline if there is ever is a problem.

We decided to start a 4-H club with some friends of ours and held our first 4-H meeting this last week. Each of the boys was elected to a position in the club and are very excited to start working on projects.

At Book Club we discussed The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. The boys had listened to the book with me and had enjoyed the story of the brothers. Orville and Wilbur Wright were fascinating people. Their sister, Katharine, was part of their success as well. I think the most tender to tribute that was given to them was when Neil Armstrong took a part of the original flyer to the moon with him.

*****

 After School Piano Practicing with Smoothie

 Reading a Favorite Again

 Grandpa Hoggan's Books that he Sold

 Birthday Breakfast

 Present from Brother

 Cub Scout Crossover

 The Monster Book of Monster

 Grapefruit

 Savory Crêpes

 Sweet Crêpes

Week 9 - Flu and Basketball

Since Sweetheart had began to feel sick, we decided to stay home from church. Fortunate for us it was stake conference, and we called to ask if that was possible to have a link to watch conference from home since the service is broadcast to multiple buildings. We were lucky enough to have the link shared with us.

On Monday morning, Sweetheart was tired of being sick and decided to go to the urgent care. It was confirmed that he had the flu. That day we had also received an email from the school saying we needed a doctor's note since the boys have been out of school for five days. The rest of us went to the doctor's office to see if we could be treated. The only person who could be treated for it was Sweetheart. We discussed afterward that if we have a high fever and aren't feeling well it is important to go to the doctor sooner than later. Sweetheart was better by Wednesday while the rest of us struggled for about 10 days.

We have decided to plant xeriscape native plants in our front yard. This spring we will be taking out the grass and adding cement in way of a new front step for our front entry. Part of the reason we are removing the grass is because of the boys' allergies. The other reason is water is more expensive here per cubic unit then it was in Tucson. In 2014 legislation was passed stating an HOA could not defeat a request for xeriscape planning because of the water in Colorado. Colorado is considered semi-arid on the Eastern Plains.


Since we are going to xeriscape in the front yard, we need to get some quotes for cement for a new sidewalk to the front door, new front steps, and a sidewalk to the backyard. Six different concrete quotes came through. We look forward to the changes.

The boys return to school on Tuesday. They had to make up their missed assignments and keep up on their current assignments. They have 3 weeks until the end of term.

Each of the boys Battle of the Books teams made it into the semi finals. They lost both of their matches, but they learned a lot about self-confidence, teamwork, and being persistent. After Hurricane's battle, the coach hosted a pizza party at her home. I wore a mask because of my cough and flu, and I didn't want to spread that we were having around our house. The boys went and enjoyed themselves very much.

I have the thought that Sweetheart needed to establish with the chiropractor. He had his initial appointment this weekend and had an adjustment. He said that he felt better after the adjustment.


We went into passport pictures. They have change the protocol and you can no longer smile in your pictures.

The boys played in a basketball game. They were totally awesome! They dribbled, shot the ball at the basket, provided screens, and their overall improvement was leaps and bounds. The end of the basketball season was significantly better than the beginning.

Sweetheart took me on a date to a restaurant called Root Down. We met up with a couple that had moved from Tucson to outside the Boulder area. Sweetheart knew the husband from Raytheon. The menu is farm to table, and we really enjoyed what we ate.

I had a Napoleon cake for dessert that was made from carrots, beets, and parsnip. It was really delicious.