It's been another busy week. Friday night Vona and Niecy spent the night so Ashley and Justin could go see Penn and Teller.
Then Saturday we took care of Jackson and Bryn while Erin and Russ had a date night.
Jackson's always ready to play with bubbles at Nana's!
Queen Bryn:
All the kids came over for Sunday dinner.
The Chatwin family enjoying the weather:
Two little lovebirds:
Sweet little baby Vona:
Ivan getting in on some dinner action:
Beautiful Briana:
Busy Alex:
Grandpa with his shadow Bryn:
Emmett the aspiring IT genius. I'm sure I'll be calling him in a year or two to resolve my computer problems:
After dinner the men started putting together the play structure for the backyard. I mentioned that I'd have to find the instructions so they could get started and Justin suggested that they'd just wing it.
It was a good thing I was able to find the instructions because they indicate on average it takes 2 people 8 to 10 hours to put the thing together. It may be a little longer than that in our case!
None of the pieces were labeled, so Briana took it upon herself to get them all organized and labeled.
Which according to one reviewer would help tremendously in the speed of assembly. I'm not sure how many pages of instructions were completed by the guys Sunday, but we've got a long way to go. At least it's started! It'll be so nice to have it up for the kids to play on. Thank you my great sons-in-law for taking on this assembly challenge, you never know it could be a marriage saver! lol
Jackson helping the big boys:
Jackson doesn't think it's really necessary to put the whole thing together!
And maybe he's right!
Alex liked the looks of this activity, so he had to test it himself!
"Hey, don't leave me out!"
The 'girls' got tired of supervising and needed a break:
Grandpa tested the sprinklers over the weekend and found out there is a break in one of the lines. I tested it to see exactly what problems we had then I called Roy the builder for Sumeer Homes who came over, looked at the lawn, didn't bother to try to dig under the ground to see where the line was broken and said the break wouldn't be covered under warranty because it looked like the grass had been run over. He said he'd call the sprinkler company the following morning and that I should as well. I called and left a message and when Amber called back she indicated she hadn't heard from Roy yet (surprise...NOT!) but that they'd be in our area on Friday and would come fix it. Hopefully they'll get it taken care of for us today and won't try to charge us. Got the water/sewer/trash bill yesterday too and it was $231 for a little over a month! Whew! But that DID include a one time $65 non-refundable initiation fee, and hopefully part of the other $166 is due to the break in the sprinkler line. We were really spoiled in Yakima. We purchased a house that was on well and septic, so we didn't have ANY water or sewer bills except when we had to pump the septic tank or make repairs on the well. I'm trying to make a more concerted effort to not waste any water in the house. Turn off the water while brushing my teeth, put some water in one side of the sink to scrub dishes before putting them in the dishwasher and then use this 'grey' water to rinse recyclables. We'll see if it all pays off next month. Trying to decide if we can shorten the time the sprinklers are on without damaging the new lawn and landscaping since that's where the majority of the water is used.
Tuesday we went to the zoo. Erin, Jackson and Bryn picked me up and we met Ashley and Vona.
Mommy bought a train ride for Jackson. He had his own private ride!
Ashley bought some bird nectar so we could feed the birds. Crazy birds landed everywhere!
Jackson enjoyed feeding the birds and didn't even seem to mind when one of them pooped on him!
Nana had fun too!
Vona did NOT want to keep her hat on her head!
Emmett deciding if he wants to get his feet wet in the kids area
No question for Alex!
Cousin Choo Choo finally get everyone looking up at the same time with a pleasant expression and we get some random photo bomber! lol
Bryn likes her some sliding!
It was warm and humid! We definitely got our exercise for the day with the girls pushing the strollers up and down hills. Ashley and Vona left just after Briana arrived. Erin was going to leave about then too, but Russ called. He had a break in clients and was only 10 minutes or so away, so he met us and they stayed for a little while longer.
The Dallas Zoo is a nice little zoo. They have a wonderful kids area with a petting zoo and quite a nice variety of animals throughout the zoo.
The sheep were pretty skittish and didn't stay put for long!
Before we left Briana, Alex, Emmett and I took a ride on the Monorail Safari. It's a guided tour on a monorail. It's nice to be up above the animals and there are a few things that you get to see that you wouldn't on foot.
Riding the monorail:
One of the animals we saw on the monorail (can't remember the name of it):
Playing around in the gift shop:
SSSSSssssnakes! And some binoculars Alex was determined should be his!
Emmett found his own set:
There were accidents on the freeway and we got a little lost taking an alternate route, but at least the boys were able to nap in the car while we were driving! We stopped at Ikea on the way home so I could buy a crib which the nice Ikea employee strapped to the top of Briana's car for us! Then we stopped at Costco to get some dinner and do a little shopping. Didn't get home until about 9 p.m. and Grandpa was in bed, so I stuck his dinner in the fridge. Headed out to Walmart (which is open 24 hours) to buy a mattress for the crib and return the items that I've been storing in my trunk that needed to be returned. I got the mattress but the Customer Service counter closes at 10 p.m. and at this store they're not allowed to take returns at the checkout stands.
So Wednesday night I took care of the returns at Walmart along with all the other stores returns, bought some #3 reeds, got some groceries for our girls sleepover on Friday night, etc.
I was going to go to the temple on Wednesday but got diverted and didn't get there. I'm making it my goal to attend every week since we're within 40 minutes or so of the temple now. I hope that by attending every week Heavenly Father will bless Pops with a job in Texas real soon. It is so hard to have him be stuck up in Washington. I miss him and feel sad that I'm here having fun with the family while he slaves away for us in Washington.
I watched Erin's kids for her on Thursday while she went to a meeting. You never know how Bryn will do. This time she was totally fine the whole time Erin was gone. Sometimes she gets very sad because her Mommy isn't here. She LOVES her Great Grandpa though and likes to hold his hand and walk around with him, or sit in his lap, or have him watch her outside.
It's been my goal to practice my clarinet at least an hour every day. I accomplished this 7 of the 9 days between my initial meeting with my new clarinet teacher Wes Hughes and my first lesson which was yesterday evening. I am challenged by getting over the break, going from an A or B flat to B. I will be concentrating on this between now and my next lesson next Tuesday. It's a matter of my breathing which is a little weak from this darn sickness (bronchitis and ear infection) AND not having played clarinet in so many years AND I think changing from a #2 reed to a #3 the day before! Wes has reassured me that this is a very common issue and it won't take me long to master it and then we'll be advancing rapidly.
Wes is a great teacher, very, very positive which is so important to me since I tend to be very hard on myself (unfortunately I passed that gene down to my girls!). He was very complementary on my overall tone, my embouchure and the fact that I can remember fingerings since I haven't really played for over 30 years. I'm very excited to have this opportunity. My goal is to be prepared to audition for the Dallas Mormon Choral Organization when they start their program here. Wes went online to research the types of music they perform so he knows what we need to emphasize in preparation. He's a music major at UNT and his primary instrument is clarinet. I'm his only student at present so other than his own studies, I'm his only focus...nice! We're both very excited. My patriarchal blessing talks about how I need to focus more on the beautiful things in life like good music and art.
Speaking of playing the clarinet, yesterday morning I was practicing in my room (my usual spot so as not to disturb Grandpa too much with my occasional squawking). I sit on the bed facing the window. As I was practicing a mockingbird flew up and perched on the windowsill. He sat there for some time and then flew off. A little while later a dove flew up and perched on the windowsill. He also sat there for some time and then flew off only to return a short time later with his mate. They sat and listened to me for the rest of my practice time. It pretty much made my day, that at least the birds don't think I'm too awful to listen too! I tried to get a picture of the pair of doves but all I had was the camera on my phone, so it didn't turn out. I joke that I hope the mockingbird doesn't start mimicking these early efforts or the neighbors may make me quit playing!
And speaking of being sick. I'm still struggling with congestion and a clogged ear drum. I've been on two different antibiotics, augmentin and zithromax which has reduced the congestion tremendously, but I'm still stuffed up and coughing occasionally. I'm trying to take Sudafed twice a day now and drink LOTS of water to try to get rid of the rest of the congestion. I started getting sick about 6 weeks ago about the end of February. I haven't been sick like this since I was a kid. I'm pretty sure my body had just had enough abuse (since I'd pretty much been working non-stop on preparing the house for sale, having a yard sale, packing, moving, unpacking, etc) and decided it's going to MAKE me slow down and it sure did! I feel like I should be totally unpacked by now, but I'm not.
Tonight we're having a girls sleepover. Erin, Bryn, Ashley, Vona, Briana and Bethany are all coming. I'm making Hawaiian Haystacks and Ashley's bringing brownies, am not sure what the other girls will bring. I'm just hoping for a nice relaxing time, enjoying each other's company. We may paint finger or toenails, or watch chick flicks, or play games, or whatever suits our fancies! Russ, Jackson, Ivan, Alex and Emmett are all going on a father and sons campout. Then tomorrow I think we're all meeting up for Downtown Frisco StrEats Festival. It's a music and gourmet food festival. Should be fun. I'll bring Vona home to spend the night with me when we're done as Ashley and Justin are going to a friend's birthday party. We'll take Vona to church with us on Sunday and then hopefully everyone will come over again on Sunday for family dunch.
I'm super excited that I get to travel to Yakima in 5 days to see my honey!! Love and miss him so much!! I'll stay for a week. The girls will take turns checking on Grandpa each day and making sure he eats lunch or dinner. If they don't provide a 2nd meal all he'll eat is breakfast! A few of the neighbors know I'm going to be out of town so hopefully they'll keep an eye out for him as well.
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