Fun Fridays--Ancient Egypt

Mummies created by mommies

Breaking free...

 Cartouche necklaces...

 Pyramid building...

Brick Universe

Michael and JP went to Brick Universe last Sunday.  To say that Michael had a wonderful time would be quite the understatement.  They have stories to tell that I am sure will last a lifetime. So thankful he was able to have a great time with his dad in his element! 

Catching up

I've been so overwhelmed the last few weeks that it has been hard to sit down and blog anything.  Brain fog would be a good descriptive word to insert here.  But I'm on my way back to normal, so here are a few glimpses into some of our things the last couple of weeks.  Forgive the lack of Tera and Daniel pictures--they are doing their own thing more and I can't really follow them around at work, school or extra-curricular activities snapping pictures.  Well, I could but...I won't!

Daddy and Michael drawing time...

Michael ran for a 4-H office at the last 4-H meeting.  He had to give a short speech for the office he was running for.  They also played a government Jeopardy game.  He got a bit competitive and we had a nice talk about good sportsmanship when we got in the car.  His team lost by just a few points, so it made that teachable moment even more vivid!

Dang, it has been hot!  We've been walking around the college track while Tera and Daniel are in class some days.

Oak Ridge Symphony concert for Tera's music appreciation class...

The night last week where we had three things back-to-back--karate, college meeting and band practice.  Dinner was picked up at various fast food places at three different times.  We brought things so Michael could chill out while we waited.  We didn't pick JP up from work until after 9:30 PM after dropping him and Tera off at 5:15 AM.  That was a beast of a day for all of us!   

Mary Poppins...

Cars...Vans...SUVs

3 weeks ago, we found out JP's car wasn't worth repairing and we went down to being a one car family again.  The day after that, the starter on my van went out and we were a zero car family.  Fortunately, we have an awesome mechanic that loaned us a car until he could fix the van the next day--Monday.  It wasn't a great car, but it was a car (see pic below) and got people where they needed to go.  At the end of that day, I was so thankful to have my van back that I might have stroked the dashboard when we were reunited.  

For the past 3 weeks, I've been making work drop-offs at ugly, dark hours of the morning--4:30 and 5:30 AM wake-up times.  Some days I was making around 5 trips into town, dropping off and picking up.  Pick-up times on some nights aren't until almost 10 PM.  To say that the last 3 weeks have been rough would be an understatement.  

My stress levels have been pretty high.  I pretty much went into sleep deprived survival mode.  I have a hard time controlling my facial expressions when I am so tired and snarled at someone in a parking lot.  They snarled back...not my best moment!  I was sick last weekend from stress I guess and my IC is still rearing its ugly head.  

BUT on Monday a glorious thing happened.  Tera found and bought a car!  Hallelujah!  

Now, she takes herself and JP to work in the mornings and takes herself to school.  Daniel sometimes is along for the ride literally, since their school schedules end at the same time.  She is so happy and so am I!