Weekend Update

Well, I keep thinking I will be taking some pictures to post, but I haven't had the camera out for several days now (is that a record for me?). So I thought I'd just post a quick update of what everyone's been up to the last couple of days. (It's either that or go wash the sinkful of dishes...)

HAYLEY
Hayley learned to drive today! :-) All the neighbor kids were outside this afternoon and Hannah was driving around one of the Barbie PowerWheels jeeps with Hayley as a passenger. Then Hayley got a turn driving (the dad who owned it was supervising). She wasn't steering at first, but got the hang of it pretty quick and was SO proud of herself driving down the street. (I would have taken a picture if the camera had been more accessible.)

COURTNEY
Courtney had her second gymnastics class today, which Brian and the other kids got to go to. (I was at a Stake RS Meeting all morning.) I've noticed that Courtney has also been throwing lots of little tantrums lately -- like the screaming, kicking, stomping, arm-flailing kind. Just tonight, Hayley beat her to sitting on my lap for family prayer and she threw a tantrum about it. I wonder if there's some underlying reason for all these tantrums...

HANNAH
Hannah does still not seem to be feeling quite 100%. I found her in bed at 7pm tonight (still in her clothes), so I had her put her jammies on and just go to sleep for the night. At least she did finally eat a decent amount for lunch and dinner today. She got her 7-year-old pictures taken at JC Penney on Friday after school. I was a little worried that she would have red puffy eyes in the pictures because she was having a rough time right before (on the verge of crying over almost every little thing), but she ended up doing great.

MCKAY
McKay was excited to come home Friday with the software game he ordered from his class book order. He paid for it with his own money -- it is a Civil War Gettysburg battle strategy game. I admit I was a little hesitant to let him order it (it's rated E 10+ -- meaning recommended for over age 10 due to violence of the battles), but let him because it's historical and he is really into history and non-fiction reading these days. I figured it would be a good strategy game for him as well as some history as well. It came with a book about the Civil War which he promptly started reading (and even took with him to the mall while Hannah had her pictures). He is definitely a non-fiction kid. We got him some used children's history books for Christmas and he has just devoured them (it is a whole series with a book about a specific historical event or time period or landmark -- we only have a handful of them). I'm really glad that he enjoys learning so much, but it's difficult when he has to read fiction for a school assignment. We have to find a chapter book for him to read that fits his specific reading level (narrowing the choices some), and it's really hard to find fiction that he will read!

GAYLE
Like I mentioned, I spent all morning at a Stake RS meeting. I was asked to play the piano for a friend who was singing a musical number ("What Heaven Sees in You"). It was good for me to have to practice! I was a little worried about the music sheets falling down on me, as they were just copied pages (not in a book) and all spread out across the piano, but it was fine. The meeting was good and the luncheon afterward was also great -- I'm wishing I could get the recipe for the chicken salad they served!
I have also been busy still selling stuff like crazy on our on-line classifieds. It's great to get rid of stuff we dont' use anymore and get a little something back for it. Just today we sold our old scanner that we haven't used in quite awhile (for a whopping $25). We got a new one with a document feeder and then realized there weren't drivers for Windows Vista for our old one so we couldn't use it if we wanted to. The lady who bought it had a Mac so that wasn't an issue for her. Brian laughs at me that I'm always going around the house looking for stuff to sell!

BRIAN
Brian's trying to catch up on some paperwork tonight after having to watch kids all morning. He has a big birthday coming up next week (shh, don't tell, but he's turning 40!). Gosh, we are getting old. I'm not that far behind him. A week or so ago McKay was with me at the grocery store and happened to see one of those black "Over the Hill" candles and he really wanted to buy it for Brian's birthday. Brian requested a pineapple upside-down cake for his birthday, which I don't think I've ever made before. So I found a recipe on-line and hope it will turn out!

So that's the weekend in a nutshell. Sorry there are no pictures to make this post a little more interesting! Now I suppose I had best be getting to that sinkful of dishes...