Oma and Papa, and Other Fun

Last week Matthew flew to LA Thursday evening, and home Friday afternoon. He met with the consulate Friday morning, miraculously had all of his paperwork, and now we're in the waiting game. For some reason this trip was really hard, we were all extra sad when he left and extra excited when he got home. I am glad it was only a day! Now that it's May, I am beginning to realize we'll be going to Germany in a month! I am excited and nervous, all at the same time! I can't wait to have more time together as a family, and especially with Matthew. 

One thing that was fun, was I got to enjoy school lunch with Jay! He cried when I had to leave, but the teachers said he pulled it together fairly quickly. I love Jay, and getting some one on one time with him was special. This was a picture of his class right after our lunch when they got special straws. 

Jay's at the very back

Friday I had Gluten Free Cooking club. We learned how to make Orange Chicken. I have attempted before, but I did not like the recipe. The one that Colleen taught us was so yummy! I am excited to try to make it on my own again, and excited for a new recipe. She taught us how to fry the chicken in a cool way, utilizing cornstarch, eggs, and rice flour. Hugh was a pretty good sport and played with his toys or outside for the most part. 

Oma and Papa flew in very late Saturday evening with Jack and Lindsay's family, had a little baggage hiccup and got to our house about 2:30 Sunday morning. Jay was ecstatic to have Oma and Papa going to church with him and enjoyed sitting with them and not allowing them to pay attention to anything other than him during Sacrament meeting. Jay was very excited when we pulled into church the same time as Uncle. He ran and grabbed Uncle's hand and they walked down to Primary together, it was pretty sweet. I got to attend Relief Society, and had Sam on one side and Oma on the other. I was grateful they were there to help me feel a little more comfortable. Hugh was very nervous about being in there, and didn't want to go anywhere except for my lap. Oma, Papa, and Matthew (the airport shuttle driver), were all very tired after church and took some long naps after a quick tour of the basement. I loved showing the basement to Oma and Papa, and feeling their excitement was fun! Jay refused to take a nap, so we played outside most of the afternoon. We all went for a quick walk after dinner, and made it home just before the storm hit. That night we made ice cream for Oma and Papa, and played Quiddler. 

Jay LOVED Papa's backpack, and got all dressed up like him which was very cute!

Hugh loves reading books right now, and enjoyed time with Oma!

Jay doing everything he can except for napping!

Monday morning came quickly, and it was sad to have to take Oma and Papa to the airport. The boys loved playing with them, reading books, and just having someone pay attention to them. Right after the airport, I went to Highlands Ranch to the dentist and Jessica watched the boys. Jay calls Jessica, "Keka," which was very sweet. I think he had a great time, and she pulled out the funnest toys for them to enjoy! I have an old cavity that split, so I have to get a filling next week. I was so hopeful I was in the clear, but not this time. I barely made it home with Jay awake, and he took a great nap. Hugh fell asleep pretty quickly and thought it would be fun not to take a nap again, which made the afternoon interesting. 

I had fun meeting up with my friend Renee, and meeting her new baby Liam. Hugh enjoyed playing around a new house with new toys, and looking at their dog through the window. Today was our pickleball morning, but we only got to play for about 45 minutes. We got a late start and didn't have great numbers. I still enjoyed the time, and Hugh did very well entertaining himself. 

Jay's been having some better days and school and actually went poop in the potty at school and at home once this week. Both were miraculous occasions! We've started to wake up with Jay as soon as he does in the morning, so it doesn't give him time to poop in his pull up before coming out of his room. It's been and adjustment for all of us, and it makes me a little more tired every day having to get up earlier than I used to but it's all good. Jay got to celebrate the school mascot, Fletcher's, birthday at school. He was being rowdy and tripped and fell during the party, and the nurse was kind enough to put bandaids on both elbows and knees even though there wasn't any blood. Jay loved his new shirt and loved talked about Fletcher (the fox) being in the basket, in the car, going home, etc. 

Jay's beautiful flower! I am truly unsure how many of these he actually stuck on. Usually they write, teacher helped, but they didn't on this one.

Jay's recent school work. 

Jay made a crown at church, and also wanted to wear his new school shirt. 

Jay saying happy birthday, Fletcher!

On Monday afternoon I went to the freezer to grab some food for dinner and I found the door open! My heart sank....I had just loaded the freezer with butter that was on a great sale, ice cream, marinated meats, and potatoes. We were so blessed that the only thing that melted was the ice cream. The butter was warmer for sure, but I refroze that and I had to cook one bag of chicken for dinner that night. It brought back memories of when we found a cool chest in our garage a week after we moved in that had all of our meat in it - all of it spoiled! This time, we were so blessed to find it in time! 

I did taste a couple of them, and so did Jay, we couldn't resist. 

The basement is taking shape and coming along quickly! I am so excited! I've ordered the vanity, which will take forever to get here. We've got some closet doors, with more doors ordered. Carpet is ordered! Uncle has cut a space for the slide, and drywalled it. Unfortunately, we forgot to take the slide out from under the stairs before the outside wall got drywalled, so Uncle had to take that sheetrock off today and to get it out. I thought it was hilarious, one of those things you just don't think of until it's too late. And, luckily, Uncle had a good attitude about it too. 

Bottom of the stairs, furnace room.

Family room

Bathroom

Office, with guest appearance of Oma and Papa!

Matthew's hours are somewhat normalizing, most evenings he isn't working although he did work half a day on Saturday. We are loving the additional time with him, and it boosts everyone's mood. We have had a few nights now where we don't have anything going on, and we aren't sure what to do. Since Matthew's started work, we haven't had many week nights to do what we want and so when busy season is done, we're never sure what to do with the time after the boys are in bed. We do love talking, playing games, and watching a show or a movie is an easy way to relax too.