Sunday, February 19, 2017

Shane&Alicia Update (2/19/2017)


Sent: 02/19/2017   From Alicia
 Subject: 2/19/2017 Update -- Week of the Nerf Wars    Sun, 19 Feb 2017 15:59:05 -0800


Happy Presidents Day Family!

 This week felt fast and long at the same time! We had extra things going on, which definitely contributed to that feeling. We're extra glad to have a long weekend...hopefully Calder will let us sleep in a little tomorrow morning!

 Rewind to the beginning of the week. Monday was a regular Monday with regular activities. I went to my exercise class, but the teacher didn't show up! Fortunately another teacher was there to work out, so she led us through the class. I liked her better than the regular teacher! I spent time putting together Valentines for Calder's preschool class. Rella just handed out mini twix bars...she didn't even write her name on them! We didn't have to make Valentine's boxes or anything. It was both awesome and a little sad.

 Calder's class had a little Valentine's Day Party, so I baked up a couple frozen pizzas (it's really easy for me to sign up for pizza because we live the closest). Calder was excited to hand out his Valentines. We had bought a bunch of little crazy straws and made cards that said "I'm crazy about you, Valentine", then attached the straws on with Washi tape. They turned out really cute. I went to my cycling class, then went and picked up a few gifts for Shane and the kids. Rella had dance class, then we got things ready for hosting the missionaries for dinner. We had our favorite waffles and breakfast foods. After the elders left, I handed out the gifts for the family. Everyone got a nerf gun. Adria got a cute headband, Rella got some accessory glasses, and Calder got some HotWheels cars. I also gave Shane a "bouquet" of socks. I had wrapped the socks to look kind of like roses and attached them to wooden skewers. We had a great Nerf war after the kids were all done with homework.

 On Wednesday Calder had his big speech assessment with our private speech therapist, Shamim. She will be a great help to him. She uses the same methods as our speech therapist in Utah, which was very effective. It was 2 hours of testing for him, so he was pretty tired by the end of it. He was pretty bummed to find out that he still had to go to school that day. In fact, he went and climbed into his bed right after we got home! I talked him into going to school and gave his teachers a heads up about his morning testing. The girls had signed up for a comic book class at the Belmont library, so Adria and her friend Nour took the bus from school to the library, then I drove Rella and her friend Alia to meet them there. Nour and Alia are sisters from the family that we had over for Thanksgiving. They had a great time learning how to make mini comic books. They got home before I needed to take Calder to swimming, so that worked out well. Calder is continuing to make progress in swimming and hasn't been complaining about it as much as he used to. We had New Beginnings for YW in the evening and Rella had activity days, so we all headed to the church for those activities. We're only getting one new Beehive this year, and she doesn't come in until September, but we still had a full New Beginnings program and all the girls participated. 

 On Thursday Calder and I stayed home all morning since I knew he needed a break after his long day on Wednesday. The rest of the day was as usual. Exercise, Dance, Ukulele. We've been trying to keep the house clean and have managed pretty well, even with Nerf Wars and Legos all over the place. 

 Friday was kind of crazy. Calder and I got everyone else off to work and school, then headed across the bay to the Oakland Temple. My cousin Dallen was getting married and my aunt had asked me to come help with some of her grandkids. So Calder and I got to play with kids in a couple of rooms at the Inter-Stake Center next to the temple. There were lots of kids, but also plenty of helpers, so it wasn't a hard gig at all. I was in charge of my cousin's daughters (6 and 2 1/2 years old). She also has baby twins, but they each had a designated adult to take care of them. After the sealing ceremony, Calder and I went to see the bride and groom come out of the temple. A couple of my mom's siblings were there. It was nice to visit with them. Then we were all headed over to a chapel in Clayton (about 30 mins from the temple) for the luncheon. I helped a bunch in the kitchen (I was so glad that we had plenty of helpers) and Calder was so good. He played with my cousins' kids and then sat nicely at his place when the food was all served. My cousins helped him get what he needed as things went along. I was finally able to go sit by him once all the food was ready. It was a long day, followed by a long drive back across the bridge. Shane and I went out on a date to a Japanese restaurant that we've been to before. 

 Saturday was the first somewhat relaxing Saturday that we've had in a while! Shane and Adria went to Home Depot to get supplies to build blow dart guns for the nerf darts (because Nerf Wars). Rella had an Activity Day field trip to a cat shelter. They were giving service by helping to acclimate the cats to kids. All the girls wanted cats after that activity. Rella and I ran errands on the way home, then the girls played with their new blow dart guns until it was time to get ready for my cousin's wedding reception. We drove back across the bridge, past the temple, and all the way to Walnut Creek before stopping for dinner at Chik-fil-a. (We don't have any chik-fil-a's near us). The reception was another 20 minutes from there. They served hot cocoa, cookies, and salads there, then wedding cake after it had been cut. We got home around 9:30. As a side note, Shane has a couple coworkers who live out in Walnut Creek and drive into the office in San Mateo every day...an hour plus each way! We had talked about living across the bay when we started looking at housing here...I am so glad that we decided on a shorter commute! We'd much rather have Shane at home than driving across the bridge!

 Today we had church, another Nerf war, and we'll have our home teachers over in a while. The kids are out of school all this week, so we are trying to see what things we want to do for a little stay-cation. Shane has tomorrow and Wednesday off, but we still have the extracurriculars to plan around. It should be a fun little break from school and homework, though!

 Have a great evening! We love you all!

Shane, Alicia, Adria, Rella, and Calder

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