Week in review

Whew. What a week. It's been a ton of fun at times, but I've never enjoyed my Sunday "day of rest" as much as I have today. I needed to take a break from the constant action.

Last Sunday (18th) I had Ward Council before church. As I sat in the meeting, the Bishop informed us that the Stake was being realigned and our ward was losing 10 families, effective immediately. Ugh. Not what I wanted to hear, since I felt like I was barely able to keep the Primary running as it was. We lost our pianist, 2 teachers and the most amazing nursery coordinator you would ever meet. It's going to be quite a challenge to figure out how to fill the empty positions. All the early-morning meetings I attend have really made Ryan step it up. He's always able to get the kids ready and sitting in the pew on time. It was a wonderful Sacrament meeting, because my two favorite ward people, Ryan and Brenda, were speaking about temples. While in Sacrament, I got a text from my Secretary, saying she needed to stay home with her sick kids. Then I got a phone message from my second counselor, saying she wouldn't be there because she'd just gotten home from a long drive back from Montreal. Then my other counselor's husband texted me, saying that one of their dogs had collapsed and died that morning, so they were at the vet. My poor presidency! So, I ran the whole show in Primary, doing the conducting, Sharing Times and dealing with all the "issues." After church, I had a cub scout meeting that lasted for an hour. Needless to say, I was in desperate need of a nap when I got home that afternoon.

On Monday, I got to take Lindsey and Logan to the zoo, so we could attend Brynlie's Beyond Basics field trip. It was so fun, but every time I attend the zoo I remember how exhausting it is. I definitely got my exercise pushing a stroller up and down hills, often with another child in my arms.
Without giving too many details, if you've never seen an elephant poop up close, you are missing out on one of the most . . .interesting . . .experiences you will ever have.

Isn't Logan's new haircut adorable?

Brynlie and her friend, Makenna.

After spending many fun (and tiring) hours at the zoo, the kids fell asleep immediately upon getting in the van. I had to wake them up when we got to the Health Department, where I needed to get an immunization excusal card for Lindsey, so I could get her registered for Kindergarten. After waiting in a long line and having the nurse lecture me on the dangers of not immunizing my children, she gave me a Medical Release Form but told me I would have to get my doctor to sign it. So I loaded up the tired kids and headed to my doctor's office. After sitting in the waiting room for quite a while, the nurse came out to inform me that the doctor refused to sign the paperwork, since he doesn't agree with my decision to not immunize. Sigh. So we got back in the van and headed over to the Health Department again. After waiting in line - again, the same nurse came out and I explained the situation. She told me I could have a Religious Refusal Card, but treated me like I was the stupidest lady she'd ever encountered. It angers me that the only way I can do WHAT I KNOW IS BEST for my kids in the state of Missouri, is to say that my religion doesn't allow me to immunize. After finally getting back home, I quickly got Lindsey dressed in a tutu and got her off to dance class. While she was there, I had my first online homeschooling seminar, which was overwhelming but helpful. As soon as the seminar was finished, I ran out the door to attend Kindergarten Roundup, where I officially got Lindsey registered for school. We didn't get around to having dinner until past the kids bedtime.

When Ryan and I finally had a chance to sit and talk, he told me all the details of his meeting with the owners of his company that day. Ryan has been working hard on launching a new entity in his company, and the owners are all very impressed and excited about his plans and vision. He was given a very generous raise, and many more opportunities for growth. I'm so proud of him and all his accomplishments. I took this picture of Brynlie, with a note she wrote to her Daddy on her whiteboard that night.

And a random picture of Logan doing what he does best.

On Tuesday, our water heater problem became worse. If we don't remember to push the thermostat button before heading to bed the night before, we all have freezing cold showers in the morning. This happened most mornings this week. After trying to get about 10 loads of laundry put away in the morning, I went to the elementary for (another) meeting with the administration who are trying to convince me that Brevan shouldn't keep his IEP if he's only going to attend school part-time next year. They also don't want to pay for his speech therapy or any occupational therapies anymore. I'm still not great at confrontations, but I said a prayer before heading into the office. I am Brevan's advocate and believe that he needs and deserves all the help he can get as he tries to maneuver through life. After getting many annoyed looks from the administration during our meeting, I stood up to leave. The school counselor walked me out and informed me that she believes Brevan should continue to get all the help he deserves, but her job requires her to deny first and wait for a fight. The public school system disappoints and angers me more all the time. After the meeting, I checked Brevan out of school so we could attend our orthodontist appointments. I had to drop Lindsey off at Ryan's work first, so he could get her to preschool on time. After our orthodontist appointments, Brevan and Logan helped me with our monthly Sam's Club shopping. It's always quite the ordeal, with the amount of large items I try to stock up on. I then had to drop off Brevan at school again, and pick up Lindsey from preschool. That night consisted of piano lessons, choir lessons and homework.

Wednesday was the first day of the year when I couldn't stand the heat in the house, so I tried to turn on the air conditioner. It didn't work at all. So I called a repair guy in our ward, who came out and gave us the bad news. We have to purchase a new one. We got a couple more opinions on this before deciding it's inevitable. Apparently, we will be dishing out many thousands of dollars for cool air. Or maybe we could just take a cold shower every time we need to cool off this summer, since our water heater gave out the same week! Geez.

I spent hours and hours shopping with Lindsey and Logan this day. I had to purchase all the supplies for the humanitarian kits our Primary kids put together at our activity yesterday. Along with all the supplies that were donated, I purchased 200 toothbrushes, 100 combs, 100 handtowels, 100 bars of soap, 50 tubes of toothpaste and 100 bags. I wanted to make sure I used all the donated money wisely, so we went to many stores to check prices before I made the final purchases. I got the purchases to fit within two dollars of my budgeted amount!

We also stopped at Home Depot, where I got some new plants, 16 bags of mulch and a light fixture for our basement bathroom that I've been re-doing. After the shopping, we stopped at the hospital so I could get my allergy shots. I never got around to taking Lindsey to preschool, because there was only 30 minutes left by the time we got back to Kearney. Wednesday night included Scouts and Activity Days.

Thursday was overcast, but the rain held off all morning as I did 3 hours of work on the yard. I love working on the yard in the spring, but we'll see if I keep my positive attitude once the real heat hits this summer! I also managed to get the storage room organized, the van deep-cleaned, and some of the bathrooms scrubbed. Then I spent some time composing a polite but direct letter to many members of the school administration, concerning some mocking and bullying Brevan has been experiencing lately. I told them that I expected to hear by Monday how the situation would be resolved. I'd talk more about that, but it just breaks my heart. After all the dropping off/picking up from school, I drove Brynlie to dance class and got the rest of us ready for Brevan's recorder concert at the school. You heard me right. A hundred 5th graders blowing on their recorders at the same time. I get a headache again every time I think about it. But I'm proud of the work Brevan has done, and especially grateful that the recorder peaked his interest in other musical instruments, so now he plans to play in the band next year.

While sitting next to me in the concert, Lindsey kept playing with her loose tooth. When she first told me last week that her tooth was loose, I didn't believe her because our other kids didn't lose their first tooth until 2nd grade (just like their mom)! This blondie must be an Ellefsen all around, including her mouth. I took a picture of her tooth hanging on by a thread over her lip.

Then I told her she should just pull hard on it one time, and it would pop out. So that's just what she did, and suddenly she was screaming that her mouth was bleeding. We ran out to the bathroom, where I got her all cleaned up and helped her calm down. She was not a fan of the hole that was left in her mouth, but I think she has slowly gotten used to it. Now for the rest of the story: Being the first tooth this little cutie lost, you'd think the Tooth Fairy would be excited to visit her and leave some money under her pillow. Well, the Tooth Fairy WAS excited, but had a few other things on her/his mind, so there was a crying girl in the morning, who didn't get anything under her pillow. We felt badly for her, and told her maybe she should write a letter to the Tooth Fairy, as a "reminder." Well, the Tooth Fairy forgot to come AGAIN that night! Seriously, what is wrong with that dang Tooth Fairy?! Finally on the 3rd night, the Fairy visited and Lindsey woke up to a crisp $5 bill under her pillow. Worst. Tooth. Fairy. Ever.

When I drove back to Liberty to pick up Brynlie from dance, I got a call from my friend Shelly, who was in tears because she was so sick and needed a ride to the hospital. Her husband is a pilot, so he wasn't in town. I told her I was 15 minutes away from her house, so I called Ryan and had him pick her up and then me and Brynlie met him in the emergency room. I sent Brynlie back home with Ryan, and stayed with Shelly while the doctors did many tests on her. She was diagnosed with bronchitis which brought on a severe asthma attack. Poor Shelly!

There was no school on Friday, so I was able to sleep in a bit after a long night at the hospital. At 10:00 we all went to the local Senior Center, where Brynlie and the rest of the Upbeat Music Group performed. They did fantastic and I'm so impressed with everything Brenda has been able to teach them! Every song had actions and many had different harmonies. I was so proud of all the cute girls! Brenda and I made these cute hair bows for all the girls to wear for the performance.

Brynlie and her "besty" Megan. Brynlie was able to attend Mass and Megan's First Communion last weekend. I'm so glad Brynlie has such a fun, sweet, honest, Christian friend. They are an awesome duo. After the performance, Megan came back to our house to play all day.

Brevan has been so excited to have his friend, Emma, come over to play. They have become good friends at school, and Emma has even withstood ridicule many times to be friends with Brevan. I can't explain how much that means to me. What an amazing little girl. So Emma was able to come over and play for a few hours, and I met her parents for the first time. The playdate went well, but I have to admit that it took some work to keep everything running smoothly. Before Emma came over, I asked Brevan what things he would like to do with Emma. I was worried that Emma would want to play with Brynlie and Megan instead of Brevan. Brevan's idea was to study math. I had to do some explaining about playdates, and we came up with some good alternatives. They played on the Wii for a while, had popsicles outside with the other kids, played with Keva planks, and jumped on the trampoline. It was the greatest feeling to see how happy Brevan was while Emma was here.

That night Ryan and I took Brevan and Brynlie on a date to a G-rated Comedy Club. It was so much fun! We will definitely be going back again sometime. Many of the other Beyond Basics kids attended at the same time, and we ordered a ton of food to complete the fun experience.

I never feel old until I see pictures of myself. I'm not a fan of the big bags under my eyes these days.

During "half-time," Brynlie got up on stage and danced for the crowd! I love to see my shy girl break out of her shell!

A funny moment during the show: one of the comedians asked the audience to yell out some disabilities the other comedian could act out. Some people yelled out things like, "blind" and "can't walk." Brevan raised his hand, and when he was called on he replied, "Aspergers." The comedian was a bit shocked and said they better stick to the other ones. Later on in the show, Brevan was asked to go on stage and help with a couple skits. First, the comedians acted out the movie "Kung-Fu Panda" and he had to guess the movie. He couldn't get it, because I don't think he's ever seen the movie! Then he got to act out Noah's ark for the crowd. He played the part of a kangaroo, and I got the whole thing on video!

After many hours of preparation, the Primary activity went so well yesterday morning! Our ward has almost 200 kits to donate to the people in Haiti, and the kids learned a lot about service. They all become "Service Superheroes" by the end of the activity, and my counselors (especially Claire!) did an amazing job in carrying out the activity. Below are some pictures from the day.

Logan and Lindsey stayed under the table while the other kids had fun in the relay races. Logan was a bit overwhelmed with all the kids in the room, and Lindsey pulled her groin the day before when she was practicing her cartwheels.

When we got home from the activity, I looked in the backseat and saw Logan chillin' like this with his candy.

On Saturday afternoon, Ryan and I went on a date to our favorite sushi restaurant before heading over to the church for the adult session of Stake Conference. It was nice to finally have some down time at the end of the week. We found out that the ground breaking ceremony for our Kansas City temple will be on May 8th! I'm so excited to spend more time in the temple once we have one close by.

And now after getting bills paid and this blog caught up, I plan to go watch a movie with my hot husband. Followed by some pondering on who the heck is going to fill the open callings in Primary. And then it's time to prepare for a whole new week of wonderful craziness!