Catch Up for Days 28 through 31 (Thursday through Sunday)

Well, lots of catching up to do with all of our wonderful company. In fact it was such good company I didn't even have withdrawals from not blogging! LOL

Thursday and Friday (Day 28 & 29 )

Aunt Kathy Branconier and Teresa come out to visit us late Thursday night. Cope and T tried to stay awake, but they fell fast asleep after Jamie and Bobby's visit the day before. The adults stayed up talking and went to bed around 11:00pm. Up at 5:30am and out the door by 7:00 while we tried to be quiet and not wake our company. School went well and back home by 5:00 for me (earlier for Jeff and the kids). Aunt Kathy and Teresa went to the outlet mall all day and we were treated to a fashion show when they got home...and even a present from Teresa for each of them!
Off to Islands for dinner and Jeff went to his softball game. We had a great time at dinner and came home and relaxed! It was wonderful!


Here we are at Island's enjoying a great meal.





Saturday (Day 30)

Ahhhhhh...Jeff and I slept in until 9:00am and everyone else was up by then. Such a beautiful night and morning with all windows and sliders open...a cool fresh breeze woke us up at 9:00am. We don't get those too often, so it really felt heavenly.
Continuing with a nice relaxing morning and pretty soon the girls donned their suits and off they went onto their next leg of their journey Marriott style!
Showered and dressed, the four of us headed off to the Indian Wells Arts Festival where my class had entered an art competition using recycled bicycle parts. We walked around and I was impressed, not only with the art show, but also the tennis gardens. There were many great artists there with paintings, sculptures, jewelry, clothes, iron work, water features and much more. Great musicians were all around, as well as food vendors. It was a great day and we found the sculpture...wow! It was in a class all by itself, whereas the other bikes looked like bikes...
We couldn't tell if they had been judged yet, so Ill ask on Monday. It looked really great though!
Here is our project:While we were there, I developed really bad allergies, and was completely miserable. Have you ever felt like you needed to sneeze and it wouldn't let you? I was in a perpetual state of needing to sneeze and I couldn't! My eyes were half closed, in anticipation of the sneeze. My nose also itched, I really couldn't tell where exactly, but the whole thing itched inside, and my eyes felt as big as golf balls...When we got home, I took some medicine and by the time we went to pick up Abby and Jimmy T, I had fallen asleep on the couch, and was groggy and grumpy the whole rest of the day...ugh. I'm worried I'm developing really bad allergies.
Well, smiles on and trying to only be grumpy to Jeff (haha), we took the kids home, played in the toyroom, and went out for pizza. After pizza, we thought we'd drive by the movie theater to see what was playing. Alvin and the Chipmunks! So at 7:30, we all piled into the theater, picked out our candy, and enjoyed the movie. A quick trip to McDonald's afterwards for an ice cream, and we were all ready for bed when we got home!
They were so cute sleeping together that I had to snap their picture...










Sunday (Day 31)
We woke up at 7:22 am on Sunday, (today) ...did I say 'we'?? I mean the kids.... we could heard them playing all over the house and I eventually got up around 9:00am... Jeff got up earlier and woke me up so I could make breakfast...LOL So, pancakes were requested and pancakes I made! They all got to add what they wanted to them (sorry Jim!) and they gobbled them up...
Here is our yummy breakfast! LOL We them got dressed after playing all morning and went out to lunch. (At this point it seemed like all we did was constantly eat!) Asking Abby what she wanted to eat for lunch, she said, "Chicken noodle soup".
I had to laugh and asked, "If you couldn't have that, what would be your next choice?"
"Split Pea Soup", she said. After thinking hard about where we could go that would have that, I asked her,"Where do you and your dad usually get that?" ..."From a can", she said...(Insert Homer Simpson-Duh) So.... the next unanimous place to eat was Panda Express, and after that...the park! The kids played off all the food we ate these past two days and had a great time. Jim called and off we went back home to get the kids back to him. Abby and Jimmy T are now on spring break so they will have a nice relaxing week.
I suppose things will be slow from now until summer as school is back on until then. I'm looking forward to it, but the company all week was just wonderful!
This weekend we will be in the Carrizo Plains dry camping and ballooning. Ill talk more about that tomorrow...Im bushed and Star Wars is on and I'm trying to learn this all over again! :) Talk more later!

Day 27 and still excited from last night

Yesterday afternoon Erin, Robb and the kids arrived at our house for a quick over-nighter. They just got back into the US at around 11:00 am or so...they had been touring New Zealand for the past 6 weeks while traveling in a motor home in order to travel all over- How cool would that be?
As soon as they walked in, (4:00pm) I got a big hug from everyone, especially Jamie and Bobby, and Robb proclaimed, "I'm bushed. I going to take a little nap". At 7:00pm, Erin had to wake him up....he was so tired!
It was a wonderful visit and I finally shared a glass of wine with my sister for the first time since Christmas! (We have these 1 day a week "girls talk" where we talk and sip our wine)
Jillian was OF COURSE adorable and all the kids were so big!
The kids played with every toy in the toyroom, and then watched a movie, while the adults sat around after dinner at the table talking. We were told several times to 'be quiet" so they could hear the movie! Imagine! LOL
We celebrated Robb and Jamie's birthday with a cake and sang Happy Birthday. Dinner consisted of a huge tri-tip roast, steamed cauliflower, mixed salad, and fresh cut strawberries, honeydew and cantaloupe. Homemade brushettea started us off before the roast was done.
We were all full and sat an talked for hours....what a great way to end the day!
All the kids were going to sleep with Cope and T, and it started out great except they all played in the bedroom with all the toys they brought in there. Pretty soon Bobby and Jamie came out and started playing in the hallway. I went to check on Cope and T, and they were both fast asleep!
Too bad I couldn't take the next day off...but we all still had a great time!
(In case you are wondering, I did have 3 pieces of sourdough bread with brushetta, and a glass of wine which was not on my plan, but no cake!)
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Tonight Dad went to his baseball game, so I cooked mac and cheese for the kids.
For myself I made Florentine sauce with chicken fettuccine and as I was pulling it out of the micro, T said, "Oh! What is that? It smells good!"
I said, "That is my dinner-Florentine sauce with chicken fettuccine".
"Is that on your diet?", she asked slyly.
"Yes, it is silly", I replied.
"Okay, just checking mom", and off she went to eat her dinner!
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We have two big treats coming up!
First one is Aunt Kathy Branconier is coming to visit us with Teresa (also known as 'T') tomorrow night, and staying until Friday morning! We will go out to dinner Friday night and I cant wait! One less night I have to cook!
Then Jimmy just called (my brother) , and Abby and Jimmy T will come out Saturday and stay with us all Saturday and Sunday! Yeah!!! The kids can't believe their luck! Three sets of cousins in a week! They are overjoyed and can hardly stand it! They will be soooo tired come Monday! LOL Too bad we can't take any time off!
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This weekend is the Indian Wells Arts Festival!!!!
My mosaic class entered an art contest put on by the Scrap Gallery- it is a recycle project using a bicycle! We mosaic'd it in mirrors and I cant wait to see it! Ill be taking pictures of it for you to see! The winners will get their art displayed somewhere in the Coachella Valley permanently!
I hope that we really win! We have worked hard on it, thanks to Nedra Young and Jennifer Johnson! Nedra and Jennifer are our inspirational mosaic artists! They have been volunteering their time and materials to come into my classroom twice a week to create projects!