Exhausted!

B~U~S~Y!

Jordyn: Remember how she's had to "make up" P.E. by going in to swim at 6am for 3 days last week? After each session, she would totally break out in a red, burning, itchy rash all over her body, including her cheeks. Poor thing. We think it might be from maybe too much chlorine in the pool? We don't know, but we're glad she's done with the "makeup" work. For now.

*

Jordyn has a 3.67 GPA! That's an A- GPA! I'm SO excited, because this is just so cool for me. I know, I know- it's NOT about *me*, I'm just saying that it will never get old for me, having my kids get good grades(if they keep it up!)- because I will never forget my own rotten grades growing up, so I'm ecstatic that my kids aren't following in that path. She attended an Honors Party last week, where they had a BBQ and played dodgeball. It was for grades 7-12, and she said only about 25 ppl showed up. Lol.

*

Brittany woke up sick the other day, so she stayed home on Monday. Poor thing. She's feeling good enough today to take medicine and go to school though.

*

Brittany has now read the Biography of Albert Einstein, the Biography of Queen Liliuokalani, The Biography of Abraham Lincoln, and a couple "fact" books on Oprah Winfrey and Martin Luther King. She ran out of "real" books to read, so she started on "The Clique", a fluffy teen drama book. She promptly came to me and told me that there were "swear" words (oh my G__, Da_ _, and even Bit_ _ !_), so I gave her a marker and she marked out all the bad words. I probably should have taken the book away, now that I think about it, but I'm proud of her for doing something ABOUT the problem.

*

Koby has been so happy since baseball started. He LOVES baseball! He keeps critiquing other kids when they play (quietly, between me and him), so he's sorta cocky. Lol. But I don't want to "bring him down", so I just let him think "big", and it helps him when he's out on the field. He has his first game today, so that should be fun.

*

I've also noticed (not that I'd point it out to Koby) that because the boys haven't been playing the Wii (TV is broken) or the D.S., they've been much happier and more creative. They've been taking advantage of the sunshine and playing outside, trying to "get some vitamin D", as they now say. Lol. While I think it's okay to play video games, I think that being creative is much MORE important. The hard part is filling the kids' minds with ideas so that the temptations of the DS and Wii get pushed out... for now. :)

*

My poor Ryan is battling "winter skin" once again. His poor hands are extremely dry and cracked, and that causes tiny cuts and sores, even rashes. I am constantly rubbing cream into them each day, as often as I can. He's much better about letting me do this now, and has even let me put rubber gloves on afterward so the lotion can "soak" into his hands.

*

Ryan's first T-ball practice was yesterday, and he is NOT one to hold his tongue! He's out there with the rest of the kids, and he is one of "those" kids who think they're all that. He runs after every single ball that's hit, even if there's already a pile of kids on top of it- and sometimes actually ends up with the ball in his hands, lol. He needs to work on tact, because he'll outright tell a kid if he didn't hit it good enough, or whatever. He thinks he rules the game, so I have to sometimes tell him to stop, listen to his coach, let the other kids have a turn catching the ball, or to be nice to the other kids. Lol. He's not *mean* to them, but he just doesn't know what tact is yet. Lol. I think these are awesome traits to have in sports, but I also need to teach him that he has to work WITH his teammates. :)

I've been looking through my plethora of photos for April, and I would love to post them, but I ended up getting sick again, probably because of stress, and I just don't have any energy to sit here for an hour or so to post them. I will eventually get around to it, but this week is insanely busy. I've let the house go to pot while I prepared the party items, so now I have to play "catch up". I have MOUNDS of clean laundry to fold, every room in my house is disasterous, and I can't STAND living in a mess! Add to that, Benji has brought a bunch of stuff up from storage so we can go through them and hopefully downsize and have a garage sale this summer. Then we're also bombarded with T-ball for Ryan, Baseball for Koby (practice AND games each week), Jordyn staying after school for play practice until 5, and then her actual play is on Wed, Th, Fri, and Sat from 7 until we think 10pm, Brittany's "Activity Days", Koby's scouts that coincides with baseball games, YM and YW on Tuesday nights.... I wish I could clone myself. That way I'd be able to get some rest in-between all of this. Lol. I now have a head cold- sore throat, stuffy nose, painful sinuses, slight body aches, and just that general feeling of exhaustion. But at the same time, my will-power is dying to get started on the house, so I think my will-power will win out today. As soon as my house is clean, I'll feel like I then "deserve" to take a break and actually lay down in my bed or on the couch. Actually, I might just open the drapes and soak in the nice, warm sunshine. Here in Panguitch, it doesn't get *hot* like St. George- it's actually a very welcoming, soothing, and HAPPY warmth when and *if* we get it, lol. I just cross my fingers that the head cold won't last long, and I can go back to having a spotless house for those many unexpected knocks on the door these days. :)

Benji is ever-busy with his small jobs here and there. He usually has anywhere from 2-4 or 5 different jobs at one time, and he has found out how to juggle them with ease. He had to actually turn down work at the Grand Canyon because he is still about 2-3 weeks out. Which sucks, because that would've been AWESOME money, but he had obligations to finish these other smaller jobs. We found out that work in St. George is very hard to come by right now, and many of his friends are struggling, so we feel extremely lucky to have the work we have, even if it is "small".

So- that's what's been happening. Our lives are BUSY, work is okay, and we're happy. :)

Keep peeking back- I'll end up posting pics of the boys' combined bday party, even if it's a couple weeks later. :)