A very busy week or two

If I had posted all the pictures separately, this post would be a million miles long! I threw my sister a surprise baby shower on Feb. 16th. She had been sick the week before so I was really worried she wouldn't be better by the time the shower rolled around. I was also worried she might go into labor early since her blood pressure had been going up. Lucky for me, she was neither! Unfortunately, despite all the beautiful weather we had in the days prior to the shower, it snowed 5.5 inches that night. It started the same time people started arriving for the shower. It didn't quit until almost 10 that night! I was just glad when I went out at 9:30 and started to shovel that there had been a bunch of cars in my driveway because it made it so there wasn't 5.5 inches covering my entire driveway! I was especially glad for that when I started shoveling and realized just how wet and heavy the snow actually was! Last night we had Samantha's friend party. I let her invite 7 kids over for a sleepover. We had 3 cousins, 1 neighbor, 1 dance friend, & 2 from school. One from school couldn't come & 2 didn't spend the night. Never the less, it was chaos central for quite some time! Lucky for Nash, my aunt had tickets to a concert so she brought Carson over to entertain him. I told her the boys sat & played xbox for 3.5 hours! Thank goodness for Lego Indiana Jones & Lego Batman! Those boys didn't even notice the girls running circles around them! I was glad Travis brought home our other dvd player & that I was able to hook it up in our room so we could start movies for the girls without bothering the boys! Samantha picked out Ramona & Beezus, Alpha & Omega, & Open Season 3 to watch. I was surprised that about 3 of the girls had already seen Ramona & Beezus. I guess other people go to the theater more than we do! I broke down & bought a cake for Sam's friend party. She really wanted me to do the stand up Barbie cake again this year. Which technically it's not that hard of a cake to make. It's decorating it that takes awhile. It uses all the hand decorating tips and you have to carve the cake some. Between the shower and piano class on Wed. and dance class Thursday, I just didn't have the time or energy. Lucky for me she was ok with a store bought one (I personally think store bought cakes are nasty & shouldn't be served to humans or animals!). We ordered pizza, opened presents, had cake & ice cream, made hair bows and watched movies to our heart's content. Most all of the girls were out by 12 or 12:30. Only Nash & Sadie stayed awake until 3 am! Sadie was quiet and just watched movies - Nash was a loud mouth & I was surprised he didn't wake anyone up! When he came in at 3 and asked me to put on another movie I finally told him NO! Much to my surprise those 2 were the first ones up at 8 am! This morning we had pancakes and eggs and just played until mom's got here to pick them up at 10 am. We ran to Logan today to do just a few errands before Sam had to dance tonight. Lucky for me Aunt Cass offered to keep Nash - the kid is making me CRAZY these days! He's got a BAD case of middle child syndrome! When we went into Shopko to get some prescriptions, Sam wanted to buy something with her money. She found this make your own mosaic jewelry box that she really wanted so I let her get it. After her performance tonight we came home and she got started on it. It took her almost 2 hours, but she sat and glued to her little heart's content & couldn't be happier with the final outcome. She needs a bigger jewelry box so perhaps this will actually come in handy for more than keeping her entertained for 2 hours! Uncle Zack was kind enough to keep the boys while I took Sam to her dance performance. She danced with LaShar's at the Caprielle Invitational. My understanding is they invite different dance teams from the valley to come perform & pretty much just use it as a fundraiser. It was only $3 to get in and only lasted 45 minutes. I was thrilled! Dance performances NEVER last that long! I fully expected to be there until at least 7:30! I'm hoping that the Caprielle Review doesn't last too long either! While we were there we learned that they will be hosting a "hip hop workshop" on March 19th. I asked Sam if she wanted to do it - she hasn't done hip hop before. They have 3 choreographers that have worked with a bunch of famous people coming. So, $55 later, we are now booked with events/activities through the third weekend in March. I told her piano teacher to hurry and schedule the piano recital for that last weekend in March before something else creeps up! My mom made the kids aprons for Valentine's Day. My boys were thrilled! Every time they want to help me bake they end up wearing one of their sister's aprons! Now Nash has a transformers apron & Caleb has a tractor apron. On the 15th when I got home from work I found all three of my boys (their dad) in the kitchen. Dad had on pj bottoms & a cowboy hat. Caleb had on a cowboy had, his pj bottoms and his tractor apron. Nash had on his pj bottoms (apparently we're lacking in the cowboy hat department at our house these days). Caleb & dad were making "cowboy cakes" for breakfast (pancakes). It was the cutest thing I've seen in a long time! I couldn't help but smile & grab my camera! It's no wonder the kids like baking with their dad more than me. I don't let them pull a chair up to a h0t pan and use the spatula to turn the "cowboy cakes"....dad DOES! Dad and grandma Terri also let them crack eggs and I don't! I do share the beaters though! That should count for SOMETHING! I'm hoping next week is a bit more mellow, but somehow I doubt it! We might have cousins here on Monday since there's no school. Sam dances Tue. and Thur. and goes to piano on Wed. On Friday night she dances at SV and on Saturday Nash is having a friend over to play! Who knew the weeks their dad was gone would turn out to be busier than when he's home! At least we don't get bored!