Ok, I know, I am 2 weeks behind again. So I am not back in the swing of things! I'm sure you did not miss much last week, we are not that exciting.

What I remember of last week, is mainly the weekend, because I have pictures. Kyra and I spent Saturday in Scottsbluff at the Zoo. Kyra's Girl Scout troop went for a day of activities. I think they all had a good time, creating and learning. I had 4 girls ride up with me, then 3 back home (no, I did not forget one, she stayed in town with her mom). As we were leaving Scottsbluff, I get a phone call from my husband. At this point the debate is should I answer, knowing what he wants, or ignore and let him worry that something has happened to us. I answer.
Mark "where are you"
Laura "just leaving town"
Mark "when you get back can you come over and help me? After you change clothes."
Laura silence
Mark "please"
Laura "I guess so"
So after meeting parents at the community center (our standard meeting point), I head home to change then head back in to the Parsonage to help Mark plain the boards of the deck. See above pictures. Pastor and Sarah were also there to help. I informed my husband that I could help that day, but Sunday was tomato canning day, so don't even ask. We quit work about 5:30 p.m., and went home and got cleaned up for a surprise birthday party for a friend. The girls were invited to stay at Pastor and Sarah's for supper, which helped a lot as I did not have anything to fix for them.

Sunday was spent at church in the morning, then Mark and Lexi headed to the parsonage to work on the deck, and Kyra and I made spaghetti sauce. 8 1/2 quarts of sauce later, we were done. So people don't think we were being lazy, we headed to a friends house and picked up 3 gallon bags of grapes, that she had frozen and didn't want all of them. We put those on to cook down, and then put them through the cheese cloth. I was off Monday morning, so was able to make the jelly on Monday, instead of doing my blog. Mark, Lexi, Pastor and Sarah were able to get all the boards plained on the deck, and most of the side boards sanded, so they also had a full day.

The big even this week, was Lexi's 12th birthday. I can't believe it has been 12 years. Her day started like this.
Mom "Good morning Lexi, Happy Birthday"
Lexi "Can I open one present?"
Mom"No"
Lexi (crying) "But Kyra got to open one the morning of her birthday"
Mom "Your dad has already gone to work, and he would like to watch you open one"
Lexi "That's not fair!"
And the next thing you know, she is stomping out of the house to catch the bus. I have been informed that it just goes down hill from here, at least until they are about 15-16, some say as late at 18, but I think that is just because they leave for college. After school, once again she wanted to open one present, and the answer was no, since neither Mom or Dad were home. Once everyone was in the same place, she was allowed to open ALL her presents (all 3). We then loaded up in the Tahoe, and headed to Scottsbluff to go out to eat at Chilli's (Lexi's choice). The next night Lexi had 4 girls over for pizza and then went to the homecoming game (Bridgeport won!). Only 3 were able to spend the night, but that was plenty. I was told that the last girl went to sleep around 3:00 a.m. The next day was volley ball, so there wasn't much sleeping in.

Mark worked Saturday, then he and Lexi headed back over to the parsonage to finish up what they could on the deck. Kyra and I worked on tomatoes again and did pizza sauce this time. We got 18 pints, and 8- 1/2 pints.

Sunday was church and Sunday school. Mark mowed the lawn, and I put a turkey in the oven. We had Thanksgiving in October and invited Pastor who is by himself, as Sarah and the kids went to Michigan, and Milo over for supper.

Now we are back to Monday, and the work week starts. Lexi got up this morning asking where her "skinny" jeans were.
Mom "I don't know"
Lexi "They are all dirty because you don't do laundry!"
Mom "Yesterday would have been a good time to tell me that you were out of jeans, or you could have done them yourself. I did laundry last Monday, and I will do laundry today."
Lexi- stomp out the door to catch the bus, not in skinny jeans, and having to take her clarinet even though she only had one hand left to carry anything!
This sure seems to be becoming a pattern.
Until next week...