Help on the Spot

I'm not sure what I would do without my parental units.

My mom has had my kids every Saturday morning for the last 6 weeks while I run Stake YW Basketball.  She picks them up from my house and often they go get pancakes at McDonalds and take them to eat at my Grandpa's.

Sunday night I left them at my mom's while I went to a region church basketball meeting and James and Ross went over to the rental to try to evict our tenants.

Tuesday night I took them over for a little bit while I headed back to the townhouse to meet Fernando, the painter and do some quick assessments on the place.  James had a paper to write and was sequestered at the kitchen table.  My mom wasn't home when I got to her house because she'd gone out to check on Grandpa. He'd had a surgery that day to implant a fistula into his arm in preparation for dialysis.  My dad was there to greet my munchkins.

Friday night I took my kids back to my mom's on the way home from school.  (We stopped at our house, but they stayed in the car while I hurried and changed my clothes and grabbed what I needed.)  We got to my mom and dad's house and once again, my dad was there to greet the kids and they were happy to be there.  My mom had also invited the Howden boys over for a "pajama party" and she was also doing dinner for Grandpa.  All 8 of them went to Village Inn!  Phew.  I can't imagine it. I went to camp out at the church all night for region basketball.

Saturday, we went to visit my Grandpa, but he wasn't home.  He was out for a ride with my mom.  After the kids had a nap, I took them back to my mom and dad's again where they'd get to camp out for another night while I went and cleaned at the townhouse.  It was super dirty and I was there a lot longer than I thought I'd be.  I got back to get the kids around 10:00 and they'd once again had a great night and didn't want to leave Grandma's house.

These are my parents.  They are the best and I couldn't function without them.

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

Mission: 1 Year Accomplished

I can't believe that my brother has been gone 1 whole year!  It really seems like it has gone by fast even though it has been a while, actually a year and a couple of weeks since I'm late updating my blog.  We are just very proud of him.  His letters home each week are excellent, full of excitement and vigor for what he is doing, express a love for the people he is working with, and just show that he seems to be being a pretty good missionary.

He's had several baptisms in the greenish water fonts of Lithuania, most recently, the Chinese guy named Zhang.  He's had quite a few different companions and seems to be getting along with all of them, even Elder Norman, who I think he struggled with a little.

My biggest worries when he left were 1) that he wouldn't find anything to eat (he seems to be doing just fine) and 2) that he would get sick (he's a total boob when he gets sick and forgets how to cope with life).  So far, I haven't had to worry about that.  Everything seems to be fine.

Congratulations on making it to 1 year, Elder Petersen.  We look forward to seeing you in 1 more.

February Update

We spent Valentines Eve putting together our Valentines.  My attempts to get Molly to write her name on all of hers turned futile, but she did like putting the suckers in the sucker holes and was actually a pro at it.

Jack was equally not helpful with his Valentines.  I tried to get him to color on them, but he didn't want to.  The job we found that worked best for him was putting the finished Valentines in the sack.  

James actually sent me flowers at work.  We don't always get along, but sometimes he surprises me!  They were very pretty!

I made Pioneer Woman homemade Mac & Cheese.  It was actually delicious, but took way more effort than our usual Kraft.

I thought these little snippets from school were funny.

We spent President's Day at Ruth's Diner for lunch and then to the outlets at Kimball Junction.  It was a fun day and all four of us were on our good behavior.

House woes . . .  This picture is of a rotting beam on someone else's carport.  I'm still on the HOA Board for our townhome complex and getting this fixed was one of my jobs. I am ready to retire and we are ready to sell our house.  The light at the end of the tunnel is nearing.

On the last Friday in February we had a day off due to Parent Teacher Conferences.  Annie's kids are off track so we decided to go on a field trip.  We all loaded up in Annie's car and headed to Poo-vo for the Bean Museum and the Waffle Love Store. It was a fun day.  The children were mostly behaved, the animals were stuffed, and the waffles were delicious.