Calm week?

No, not here. Not ever. I jumped right back into all of my normal life stuff as soon as we got back from Disneyland and have hardly had a moment to rest! I did a little Tuesday afternoon and evening when I didn't have anything on the calendar (which hardly ever happens-Andy always tells me that I'm the one who fills it up. Very true!). I finished "The Undaunted" book about the Hole in the Rock pioneers which was a great historically based story, but was VERY long. I'll start since I got home from Disneyland.
Thursday night-laundry, laundry, and more laundry. Catching up online with messages and blogs and things and grocery shopping.
Friday-Back to school for Elizabeth, work for Andy, errands for the rest of us and continuing to catch up on messages and plans for the coming weeks. Friday night was our ward progressive dinner. I had two families over for the first salad/appetizer part and made finger jello and made a little platter of cheese, crackers, and apple slices. It was a hit, especially with the ten kids. The next part we went to dinner at a friend's house and had tacos with them and the missionaries and then for dessert we went to another friend's house with two other families for brownies and ice cream. It was fun!
Saturday Andy went to help his Aunt Nancy move into her new house, while I planned on resting. Instead of resting and hanging out with the kids, my big brother called and wanted to help me out by cutting down the tree I mentioned to him a few weeks ago. He called right after Andy left (8:15am) and came over with his five kids and a few saws, ropes, and his suburban. He cut the tree down with his skillsaw and chopped up a few big pieces with his table saw. His chainsaw was dead, so he didn't chop up more branches. It came down in three big chunks. It was too close to the fence and it was sick and full of bugs. I asked the neighbor to move her cars so they didn't get hit and then Milton tied some rope (including some of mine that broke from the strain) to the branch he cut down and hooked it to his suburban bumper and pulled on it. The first chunk was dead and came down easily. The second chunk was huge and was really two chunks because it split off, but it came down pretty well too. The third chunk landed on the fence and broke three boards, but replacing boards is cheaper than paying someone to take down the tree or replacing the house. It took him about an hour to do.
Here is the tree hooked up to his bumper before it came down. See how close it is to the fence and the house and the split sections of tree?Here is the tree with it all down. You can see the broken fence board there behind it. The two supporting beams broke too.
Milton with his table saw to cut a big branch in the neighbor's driveway so he could move it.Andy was surprised when he got home from helping his aunt and said, "If he did this to help me out, what's he going to do if he's mad at me?" The branches were too long to fit into the trailer, so we are going to borrow a chainsaw from Andy's dad to cut them up. Andy mowed the lawn then. After that, we went to a BBQ for our friend, Ally who used to live across the street. It was delicious. My finger jello was a hit there too. Awesome.
Look how many blooms are open on my lilac hedge! I planted sticks in the ground four years ago when we moved in and they are doing fantastic now! I love them!Sunday was church. Andy went to choir before church. I got the kids and I all ready and had extra time, so I made some yummy cookies that I added M&M's to. Vincent was so tired at church (we meet from 1-4pm). After church, we went to Andy's parent's house for dinner and shared the cookies. It was fun to visit with them as always. I talked to my mom on the phone when we got home.
Monday I helped in Elizabeth's class, so I dropped off Olivia and Vincent at a friend's house, picked up her two school kids and took them and Elizabeth to school, helped in the class, picked up Olivia and Vincent, went home to grab something, took that something to a different friend, went to the bank, WinCo, home for lunch, changed all the beds, Vincent took a nap, made lunch for me, finished up some more laundry, made phone calls and emails, picked up Elizabeth from school, came home for a half hour to get some dinner stuff done, took Olivia to a ballet friend's birthday party, came home again, trimmed some branches off the tree that Milton cut down, watered flowers, folded and put away some laundry, picked up Olivia, came home just after Andy got home, finished making dinner, ate dinner after kids cleaned up, switched more laundry, had FHE, Andy read to the kids, we put them to bed, switched laundry, put away the last of the laundry, swept and mopped kitchen and bathroom, washed dirty pans in kitchen, vacuumed family room, washed off chairs, and then finally went to bed. It was a super busy day!
I made up for the super busy Monday by not doing near as much on Tuesday. I took Elizabeth to school, came home and got ready, took Olivia to ballet, home for lunch, took a nap, was late to drop kids off at Ally's so I could go visiting teaching, went visiting teaching, picked up kids, home to heat up leftovers which were just as good the second time (Elizabeth loved them!), kids read to and put to bed, finished the book, finished some bake sale thank you notes, typed up PTA minutes for April, and went to bed.
Today was a crazy errand day too. Wednesday is Olivia's preschool day, so we dropped off Elizabeth in the morning, came home to get ready for the day, took Olivia to preschool, and took Vincent with me on some marathon errands. We went to the bank (I keep getting rebate checks in the mail, which is great!), the post office to mail the thank you notes, the library to pick up some movies on hold for me, my favorite thrift store, Quizno's to get a gift card for a brother in law's birthday last week, and back over to pick up Olivia. Then home for lunch, Vincent's nap, finishing my other book I had started (a small one), made dinner, babysitting a friend's daughter, and now more visiting teaching, then game night and packing to go to the PTA convention Thursday night until Sunday night.
I think I can. I think I can! This is one crazy busy month! Thank goodness for naps! And Saturday is a whole new month. Maybe it won't be as busy? Maybe.