Sunday Snippets

Our Week in Review.

• Sickness invaded our home this week.  We all dropped like flies.  First it was Isaac and then Alivia, then Dylan, and now the Mr. is laid up in bed with a high fever and an achy body.  I'm on the verge of coming down with it too, but I keep crossing my fingers that I can continue to keep fighting it off. 
• Alivia loves school so much she was devastated to have to miss it on Friday.  All weekend long she kept asking when do I get to go back to school?
• I got a few of our fall decorations out and put them up.
• I pulled out my sewing machine and have been working on a project I started over a year or two ago.  It's getting close to being finished, I'm excited to share pictures of the finished product.  
•  The Mr. and I have exciting plans for this next Friday (if we can both be healthy).  It will be interesting to see who gets their way, I'll share more info of that later too.  

Sunday Snippets

Our Week in Review

What a week it was and I'm so glad it's over with.

• Tuesday I took my friend to the airport to fly back home to Utah.  It was an emotional experience that made me just ache for home.  
• Wednesday morning Alivia decided to have a complete and total psychotic breakdown over her socks before school.  She would rip them off her feet screaming about how they made her feet sweaty and then she would throw them in the garbage.  I would then dig them out of the garbage and put them back on her feet and try to talk some sense into her.  We had a good half hour before the bus came so I wasn't panicking yet I figured she could get it all out of her system in plenty of time to catch the bus.  I was wrong! Nothing I said or did was snapping her out of it...She just kept screaming "no socks, stupid sweaty socks".  I threatened her with every grounding in the book and even told her if she didn't quit I'd make her miss school.  I sent Dylan off to the school bus without her and that's what finally motivated her to put on her "sweaty socks" and get to school.  As I pushed her out the door Dylan was walking back from the bus stop saying they'd missed the bus.  This really upset Alivia and she ran the neighborhood crying and carrying on like a crazy person.  As I was trying to catch her and drag her back home Isaac got loose and started running away as well.   I sent Dylan after Isaac and I continued to chase Alivia, but that was a mistake too!  Dylan was laughing and chasing after Isaac like it was a really funny game so when Isaac got brave and ran out into the road I knew I had to give up on Alivia for a minute and get Isaac safely contained.  Much to my relief a neighbor girl grabbed Alivia's hand and told her it was okay and they hadn't missed the bus and walked her to the bus stop.  What a circus!  I must have looked like an idiot mother with three really out of control kids.  I can only imagine what every neighbor was thinking as they watched everything unfold. 
• After having myself a good cry over Wednesdays mornings events I decide to get to work on cleaning my house.  I started with a load of laundry.  About an hour later I noticed this really bad smell and ran as fast as I could to our washing room.  I opened the door to find the room filled with black smoke.  My washer was billowing smoke!  I quickly shut it off and thanked  Heavenly Father that it didn't catch my house on fire.  I called the Mr. and told him that our washer was a goner!  I spent the rest of the day trying to de-smoke our house.  Yet another appliance that has bit the dust in the last three months.
• We had a lot of rain towards the end of the week.  Friday afternoon it really started to rain.  I kept watching the clock so that I could have enough time to hop in the van and drive to the bus stop so I could be there to get Dylan and Alivia since it was raining buckets of water.  Apparently the bus was early and before I knew it Dylan was pounding on the door.  When I opened the front door he was hysterical and bawling and telling me he couldn't believe what kind of mother I was for making them walk home in the rain.  As I tried to explain myself to him I noticed a neighbors truck pull out of our driveway.  Dylan kept crying and saying at least we had nice neighbors who would drive them home.  How many times in one week can I make myself look like an incompetent mother? 
• Saturday was just icing on the cake of a week well worth puttting behind me.  I was helping a friend from our ward by watching her 8 year old son.  The kids were having a good time and were wrapped up in a movie so I took Isaac outside to pull some weeds since the weather was a little cooler thanks to all the rain.  After a few minutes Isaac scurried around the corner and I heard a car door shut.  I got up to see where he had gone  and found him in the garage inside his daddy's car.  Unfortunately for me he found the lock button and had locked himself in.  It wasn't until I went in to the house to retrieve my keys that I remembered that I had left my key to that particular car back in Utah and that the Mr. was the only one who had a key.   The problem I now had was Mr. Giovannoni had taken his set of keys with him to run some errands but he had taken my vehicle. His cellphone bit the dust a month or so ago and we decide it was just one more thing we'd put off replacing so we could focus on getting things around the house fixed up, so I had no way of contacting him either.  I tried to teach Isaac how to unlock the door by himself, but he just couldn't figure it out.  I tried unpicking the lock, that didn't work either! I noticed that Isaac was starting to sweat so I knew I had to get him out.  I decided I would call the non-emergency number and see if I could get a police officer to my house to unlock the car doors.  Turns out they consider it an emergency down here and they had to send the fire department! By now the other kids had caught wind something was up, so they kept running in and out yelling about how the cops were coming to our house.   The fire department arrived and they couldn't get the equipment they had to work and they told me they were going to have to break the car window.  Thankfully (and in answer to my most fervent prayers) Isaac pushed the lock the right way and the door unlocked.  Finally he was safe and nobody had to bust up the car window.    Not even one minute after the fire department left then the Mr. drove home.  Even though I wanted to die from embarrassment and shame over the big scene we made I'm just so glad everyone was okay.  And my friends little boy had an exciting story to share about the time he spent at the Giovannoni's.....right? 
• Here's to a better week next week, I could sure use a break!

Surprise!

Mr. Giovannoni surprised me by flying my dear friend Stacie down to see me this past weekend.

This picture is the only one I grabbed of us as she was leaving at the airport. 

My kids answered the door when she knocked and they nearly died from excitement.
I had been scrubbing carpets and washing beds so I was only half dressed and I was sweaty and gross, so I wanted to die when she caught me this way, but then I laughed at myself and remembered she saw me that way all the time in Utah (except the sweaty part) and she wouldn't be surprised at all to catch me this way now.  At least she came when the house was clean right?
Mr. Giovannoni rushed us out the door to grab lunch and do some errands, and allowed me so much needed time with my friend.  
Sunday morning we went to sacrament meeting, snuck home for lunch and then headed down to Galveston for a walk along the beach.  The weather was gorgeous and the humidity was low.

  

The kids really wanted to jump in the ocean and go for a swim, they were so disappointed that I outlawed the idea since it was Sunday and we were just there to look.  

The Mr. then drove us to the port at Galveston and we hopped on the ferry to Port Bolivar.  We had never done this before and didn't know what to expect, it turned out to be a short and fun little ride and we were all had a great time watching the dolphins jump in and out of the water.

 The ferry we rode on.

Monday morning Stacie gave me a much needed haircut (it's been over a year since I've had one) and then we hit the premium outlet malls to look around.  We came home and sat in lawn chairs in the front yard, and I talked her ear off all evening long.  

Tuesday came too fast and before I knew it I was driving Miss Stacie to the airport.  I'm not sure who was more devastated to see her go me or my kids.

It was hard to say good bye and I cried most of the way home from the airport, I miss my old life and my old friends!  

It was so good to see you Stacie!  Thanks for coming and brightening our lives, I know it wasn't easy to leave your own family for a while.  My kids adored having you back around.   The Mr and I had a great opportunity to play hostess and we learned a lot about how we need professional help when it comes to hosting guests.  Thanks for the haircut and the smiles and the listening ear.  

I hope you had a little fun here in Houston with us. 

I can't end without a big thanks to the Mr. for the surprise,  It tickled me pink.  I love you!