Tyce offered to come back the next day and bring some wood and tools to fix our entertainment center door that had fallen off. We decided to do a group family home evening activity and go to play volleyball at a park and let the kids play at the playground after we got the entertainment center fixed Monday. After Michael got home that night, Tyce and Faith came and they worked on fixing the door, but the kids were being pretty wild. We finally ended up taking the kids to a nearby playground because they couldn’t stay inside any longer. I ended up finishing the entertainment center a few days later – and it is nice to have it all fixed (especially since we don’t have to continually worry about keeping Camden out of all the things we store inside the door that was broken before. We had fun at the playground with the kids, but didn’t stay too long because it was late and the kids were all rather grumpy.
On Tuesday the kids got lots of chores done and we got the house all cleaned up, then we went and ran some errands and when we got home I made dinner for us and for some friends who just had a baby. Michael got home that evening, and after we got the boys to bed I went to a Ladies Night Out activity.
On Wednesday morning we went to a playgroup at the Tot Lot playground. The boys had lots of fun at that. Then we ran some errands. I had a doctor’s appointment, but it wasn’t for a couple of hours, so I called Michael and he met the boys and I for a little while and then went to the doctor’s appointment with us. The appointment went well. Everything seems to be good with the baby. And I told the doctor about the knee pain I’ve been having with this pregnancy, because it’s been getting worse lately, so I now have an appointment set up at an orthopedic clinic in a couple days – I am really hoping that I go in and they make a few quick suggestions and whatever the problem is with my knee will be an easy fix. We’ll see.
Wednesday evening was Kolby’s first swim lesson of the new summer session – and we decided to let him try being in the class without the parents in the water again this session. Several months ago we tried that class, and he had a pretty hard time at first, but then he got used to the teacher and seemed to be improving a lot. Then we were pretty surprised a few weeks into the class that the teacher suggested that Kolby shouldn’t be in that class anymore. The teacher had made a lot of comments about having too many kids in her class and how the kids were all so different in their ages, swimming skills, and how well they followed instructions. Anyways, they suggested that we put Kolby in a private lesson, but we ended up doing another session of the parent-child classes with him. This time we let him choose which class he wanted to try – and he said that he wanted to be in the class where Mommy and Daddy watched him from the side of the pool. I told him that would be fine, but that he would need to listen and do everything that his teacher told him to do. So, we went to his new class on Wednesday and he did so well. He was probably the best-behaved child there – he did everything the teacher asked right away. I was so proud of him. He will have fun in this new class, I think.
On Thursday Michael had one of his long call days at the hospital again – from early Thursday morning until Friday around noon. This time I suggested that he just stay after his shift ended and catch several good hours of sleep at the hospital, rather than coming home and just getting a few hours of sleep here and there with lots of interruptions from the kids. I think that it worked out better for him – he was still very tired, but able to do stuff with the family the next day. Thursday the boys had their art class in the morning. Later on, after naps, we went over to the Kearl’s house to play. They got a little blow-up pool for Nathan with a basketball hoop on one side of it, and the boys had lots of fun playing. Afterwards they rode bikes around the driveway. It was fun to just sit and watch them play. Then we went straight to Eli’s swim lesson at the YMCA. His class seems good, although I think that he is old enough to have more work on actual swimming skills and less time spent on the parents holding the children and singing songs. But I guess really that a big part of the swimming lessons when they are so small is getting them comfortable in the water. He enjoyed it, though.
On Friday morning I took the boys to the library. After Michael got home, we got a few things done around the house and then dropped the boys off at the Taylor’s house. We went and saw the musical, The King and I, which was put on by members of our church at a building south of here. Our friend, Cassidy, was the lead role of Anna. I had seen the movie Anna and The King a few years ago, but had never seen the musical or the movie of the musical before. I was a little surprised by the ending (because it was quite different from what I remember happening in the movie I saw), but we liked the performance and had fun spending time out together.
On Saturday morning we got up early and got everyone ready to go to the temple. When we got there, it was pretty hot out and the cicadas were flying around in the trees and making a really loud buzzing noise. Michael and I went in first and we ended up doing a few initiatories. Peter and Cynthia went in next and we took all the kids to Costco while they did initiatories also. We were planning on stocking up on a bunch of stuff at Costco, but then we remembered that they only accept American Express credit cards, and we decided to wait until our temple trip next month to go stock up at Costco instead, once our next set of student loans has come in and we have some more funds in our account. We ended up doing a circle around Costco and letting the boys try each of the free samples for part of their lunches. After eating lunch and dropping Jordan and Carter back off with Peter and Cynthia when they got done at the temple, we drove home and got the boys all down for a nap. I cut Michael’s hair, Michael got the laundry done, and I made dinner. Then the Taylors brought their kids over so they could go see The King and I. They were really good and after watching the movie Curious George that the boys had checked out at the library, and eating some chicken for dinner, the kids all went to bed. We had six kids here, and got them all to bed in the three bedrooms, with one extra bed to spare – we decided that we could easily fit six kids into a little apartment (as long as Michael and I didn’t need a bed to sleep in).
So, Michael is on call again today. He will be home sometime tomorrow afternoon. Luckily he only has one more long call day this month – next Friday/Saturday – and then he is done for a while. After June ends, Michael will officially start fourth year. That is exciting – especially since he only has two months of rotations fourth year that he is scheduled to be on-call again. That will be a big change to have him home most weekends (and, for most rotations, probably most weeknight evenings too). Today is Father’s Day, and we knew that Michael would be at the hospital today, so we gave him his gifts yesterday after we got home from the temple. I got him the sheet music book of Jon Schmidt’s Hymns. He started playing them on the piano for a little while yesterday, and they sounded great. We also made a cute card for him with a picture of a house. The house had three windows that were cut out with photos of the boys in the windows. The boys and I also made a card like this for my Dad and one for Michael’s Dad. Then, in their art class, the boys made Father’s Day cards and decorated bags of cookies for Daddy. So, I think Michael enjoyed those gifts. Today at church the boys did pretty well. We ended up out in the hall after the Sacrament, but they went to their classes well, and Camden played with the other kids during the Sunday school class, then he fell asleep on my shoulder so I was able to go for most of my relief society class. That was nice. Now that we are home and the boys are up from their naps, I think we’re going to play a game or something before dinner – they are getting a little worked up and have started playing a game where they stand on each other’s stomachs – and that can only lead to trouble. Better run.
Oh yeah – Camden started standing up holding on to furniture the other day. And this morning he was trying to play with my foot while I was on the couch, and I slowly moved my foot along the edge of the couch and he moved along after it – he took a few steps and moved along the front of the couch. And, this afternoon, he started clapping his hands for the first time too. So that was pretty cool. Here are some photos of Camden the first time he pulled himself standing up:
