2013 :: week 11

Lauren is very "busy" right now, and because of this we spend a lot of our time at church in the halls now. She is usually good for the first hour, but after that she wants to move. She's taken to screaming half the time we walk into the relief society room (where we have both Sunday School and Relief Society). On this particular Sunday we ended up in the foyer where she carried our animals across the foyer and carefully positioned them on the chairs, one at a time.

Anthony left early Monday morning for DC for the work week, so I was left with a week of evenings to myself. After sharing a delicious meal and FHE with friends I came home, put the kids to bed, and got out some craft supplies. I had fun putting together a few Easter decorations.

I don't know what I have done to deserve them, but I have been given the best visiting teachers in each ward I have lived in since we've been married. Last summer when Lauren was in the hospital my current visiting teachers made us a (delicious) meal. I asked for the recipe, but Maria doesn't have it written down, she just makes it from memory. She said she would come "show me" how to make it, so on Tuesday afternoon Maria came over and she taught me how to prepare her delicious pasta with fresh veggies and homemade red sauce. Mmmm. So good. Then Becky, my other VT stopped by and brought us some of the best brownies I have ever eaten. Perfectly soft, topped with mint frosting and Andy's mints.

"Let me walk," he said. "I'll be good," he said. "I'll hold on to the cart," he said. So much for pre-trip promises. In his defense he actually was very good the rest of the trip. In the cart.

Thursday we got some much needed vitamin D. Going outside with a mobile Lauren is a new experience. Since she didn't start walking until January, this was the first time we spent much time outside with her on the move. She's much more fearless than Will is, so it wasn't very relaxing since I was constantly adjusting her routes, but we didn't care because the weather was gorgeous.

Due to a variety of reasons we didn't do a great job winterizing our yard last fall. So beautiful weather on Friday and TJ finally back home worked out for an afternoon and evening of raking. We filled up the water table to keep the kids entertained, and of course they both got soaked. Lauren only chewed on about 30 rocks, down from 50 the day before, so we are seeing improvement there. Between fishing rocks out of her mouth and taking away several large sticks from Will, we were able to fill 6 bags with leaves. Working hard feels good. I slept so well Friday night.

Saturday night we made all of Will's dreams come true. We ate dinner at the new Hy-Vee. The first time we shopped there Will noticed the large kitchen area and stairs and wanted to check them out.  Will enjoyed watching shoppers below from our table upstairs and I enjoyed not having to cook or clean up a meal. The food was pretty good too.