Well, Wedneday August 1 I embarked on a new adventure in my life, babysitting. I did quite a bit of babysitting when Jaime was little. Once Alix was born I figured I would need to focus more on my own family. Well, I was approached quite a while ago about doing it again. I’ve resisted till now. The children are Hannah (10) & Aaron (11). They are really good kids. I’m not quite sure why they require a babysitter, but I guess times have changed……
They are very helpful with chores and they seem to play with the kids pretty good. They are older though and we are already having issues with that. They are from a divorced family and so I only watch them every other week, when they are at their dads house. Anyway, it should work out fine, especially once school starts. I’ll only have them here 1 1/2 hours in the morning and afternoon. Till then we have them all day. So Wednesday, they went with us on our feild trip to Crab Cove. It’s a place in Alameda (about a 30 minute drive). It had a VERY small visitors center and then the kids played in the bay. I sat on the “beach” with Afton. They all seemed to have a great time and it took the largest chunck of the day. By the time we got home we did chores and then rested for about 45 minutes then their dad came and picked them up. The kids and I loaded up and went to pick up Scott from work. The kids all got a little snack from the “kitchen” and then we headed to Happy Hallow. Usually they close at 5 pm but, for members only, they stayed open till 8. So we took the kids because we knew that it would be less crazy. It was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed being out late.
Thursday was an early morning. We had agreed to meet Laura at “the path” to pick blackberries. We met at 8:30 am. It was fun. Everyone helped to pick. It was especially nice to have two older kids there to help. Although, in the end we ended up with less blackberries than usual because they can eat a lot more too!! We did end up home with enough to make one batch of jam and one pie. The pie was amazing and was the best one I’ve made so far. After chores and naps we went to Costco with a friend. We had some things we needed to get for Jaime’s baptism. That was a fun trip but lasted a little too long so I just dropped Hannah and Aaron at home. We came home, put the groceries away and then went and got Scott. We had dinner and off to bed with everyone (even me!).
Friday morning was a bit crazy. Scott missed the morning shuttle so I took him to the late shuttle. But since he was home I put him to work. We had a few things to clean before company showed up and so we got that done. I took Scott to the shuttle, I took Hannah and Aaron to a dentist appointment and I took my kids to the grocery store. I took the groceries back home, picked up Hannah and Aaron and went to a friends house to go swimming. We got to swimming about 11 and we left at 2:45. (back track) When we were driving home from Utah we realized that our van had a bit of a shimmie. When we got home I called the car place and they said I probably needed a balance. So Scott took the car in. When they were done it was worse. So I had to take the car back to them. So after swimming we all went to the car place. Lucky for us it is right across the street from the Hub (an outdoor mall). So all the kids and I walked across the street and wreaked havoc on Taget for a while. The car place called and I picked up the van. Well, it was better than it was, but there is still a shimmie. AHHHHH. Anyway, after that I went to the City of Fremont office and signed the girls up for classes (Jaime is taking dance and Alix is taking carpentry). Once again I was a bit late but so was their dad. We ended up back at my house about the same time. After Hannah and Aaron got picked up I called Gayle to see if she could take me back to Costco because I forgot to get a few things. She was awesome and said yes. I got there a little earlier and the kids and I had pizza. Gayle joined us later and had some too. After the shopping was done I had just enough time to go pick up Scott. I was a little late getting him, but he didn’t seem to mind. We got the kids in bed a little late, but they were happy that they got pizza for dinner and that they would get to see grandma and grandpa Thompson in the morning. Scott and I did a couple more things then went to bed too.
Saturday started early for me. I wanted to get a few things done so I wouldn’t be running around crazy all day (unfortunatly, I still managed to run around crazy all day!!). Gma and gpa Thompson arrived about 7:30 am. We all enjoyed cereal and OJ together. We then talked and played and did a few more preparation things till Steve showed up about 11. We all said our hello’s then we called in our order for chinese food (there is this great chinese food place here that my grandparents LOVED. Steve loves the place too and so whenever he is in town, we can be sure we will get to enjoy some good food!) We left and visited grandpa Sutherland’s grave. Once again, Uncle Steve sat around the grave with all the cousins and mesmerized them with his “grandpa stories”. He tells them just like Grandpa used too. After tearing the kiddo’s away we went and picked up the food and came home and ate. We spent the next two hours eating, showering and dressing. We all got ready and in the cars and out the door by 2:40. We made it to the church with plenty of time for all the kids to wreak some havoc before the start of the baptism. The service was incredible. Steve gave a great talk on Baptism. Scott did a great job making sure all of Jaime made it under the water. Gayle helped us all understand the Holy Ghost more and Scott did a fine job on bestowing the Holy Ghost upon Jaime and giving her a marvelous blessing. The end of the baptism was filled with much happy converstion and smiling faces. It was a great baptism. Lots of wonderful pictures were taken and great memories made. We got home by 5 and the real festivities started! We invited a few friends and family over for an after baptism bbq (I totaly bached all LDS tradition and served NO refreshments after the baptism). We had about 10 adults and a bazillion kids. It was fun. We had carne asada burritos and it was GOOD. Scott is a great BBQ’er. We realized after scheduling the baptism that it was Grandma Thompson’s birthday. So we surprised her with a carrot cake and candles to blow out. I think she enjoyed that, all the kids did for sure. They got to sing happy birthday twice to her and help her blow out the candles. The night finally wound down about 9:30pm. We all made it to bed around 11.
Sunday, today, was a bit crazy. It’s hard when everyone makes it to bed late and then wants to sleep in. I especially don’t like having to wake up the little kids. I’d prefere to let their bodies wake them up. We finally got everyone up and moving by 8. Grandma and Grandpa showed up about then and things really got moving. The grandparents took a round of kids and left while Scott and I finished up the last round. We all managed to get to church on time! Church was nice. Grandma Thompson and I both bore our testimonies. Unfortunatly our visit had to come to an end after Sacrament. Grandpma and Grandpa had a long drive ahead of them and needed to get home. Steve and Kenneth left after lunch. Everyone napped/rested and now they are all awake begging for attention and I’m trying to finish. We had a great weekend and it was an amazing experience to see one of my own children get baptised and make covenants with Heavenly Father. Jaime is amazing.
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