Then we turned off electronics, and cleaned for a while. Everyone had to get their chores done and their rooms cleaned before they could earn back electronics privileges. Jake and Tom went to do their rooms, and Eme and Joe and Jim did their chores. Then Eme and Joe went to do their rooms, and eventually Jim did his room. Jake got done first.
I organized the sheet/towel closet, and the upstairs closet, and the above the washing machine/dryer shelf. And the game closet. Yeah, it was a lot of organizing. Not too bad :)
I should have spent a little time doing my laundry, but I didn't. ha! I did do 2 or 3 kid loads of laundry, though...
In the middle of cleaning, I got a phone call from Captain America! It's been the first real conversation we've been able to have since he went to the field. We've texted briefly, but that's about all. We chatted for about 50 minutes, and it was SO nice. I sure do miss that boy...
I got the kids lunch, and we watched some TV together. Then I took a VERY short nap, but my brain wouldn't turn off. So I eventually got up, and put on my workout clothes, and went for a jog. But yeah, I wasn't really feeling it. I did one lap around the neighborhood, plus a little bit more, but didn't jog the whole time. It was a total of 20 minutes workout, maybe 10 minutes of jogging. Maybe. hehe. I didn't wanna push it too much, though.
Kids were all finished with their chores, and played on electronics for a while, and at around 3pm, I put a lasagna casserole in the crock pot. I'd never cooked it that way, and I was hoping that it would turn out.
1 LARGE jar of spaghetti sauce
2 LARGE containers of cottage cheese
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
1 defrosted package of spinach
1 box whole wheat noodles
Garlic powder
Onion Powder
Italian Seasonings
Mix all together in bowl, add 1/2 cup water, pour into crock pot, shred cheese on top, cook on high for 2-3 hours.
I showered and got ready for the rest of the day, and it felt SO good. Showers really are good, you know. hehe.
Around 5pm, we started to get everyone else ready too. Shoes and socks and pants and such. Because I didn't want my kids going to the Ward Talent Show tonight looking like Jimmy does here. ROFL!
And soon we were ready to go. And yes, you CAN cook lasagna casserole in a crock pot. It turned out fabulous :)
Pics of the fam RIGHT before walking out the door. Jimmy giving himself bunny ears. ROFL!
So we left the house around 5:30pm, and headed over to the church. AND, since there's a Howdy's on the same street as the church, I felt I deserved a 64 oz Diet Dr Pepper. ROFL! If I was gonna have to take 5 kids to a ward activity all by myself, then I needed a "hit" of caffeine. ha!
Here's me with my "fix"
And on to the church. We dropped off our crock pot, and found seats. The little boys played ring around the rosie in the center of the gym with the little kids, and the big kids sat with me at our table. There were a TON of people there.Tom and Eme and Joe got in line, and Jake and Jim and I guarded our places. Me "guarding" my soda...
After Tom got to the VERY front of the line, Jake and Jim and I jumped in with him. I know, I know, line cutters. hehe. I grabbed some pulled pork and a piece of pumpkin pie. I'd eaten dinner already at home, but purposefully didn't have dessert JUST so I could have it at the party.
We were supposed to bring crock pot dinners, rolls/bread, and pies. There was a TON of food, but a TON of people too. I don't think there was any food left at the end...
Anyway, here's Tom with his food
Jake and his food. Yeah, he wasn't so happy with having to come out and socialize.... grrrr... I know it's important for him to be out and about and around people. But it's not the easiest thing to do sometimes. Because he fights it, and purposefully does things to annoy me, hoping that I'll send him "away" from people.And me and my pie. Pie that I passed up cupcakes AND my cookies for today. I actually had a cookie in my hand, and put it back, deciding to eat the pumpkin pie later today instead. Because I will only eat 1 dessert a day. Self imposed rule.
And yeah, I LOVE pumpkin pie. But I learned something toinght. I LOVE homemade pumpkin pie. And these were definitely not. These were frozen cooked pies. I'm not crazy about those. The first one I tried was watery. Whaaaat? Pie is NOT supposed to be watery. I had one bite, and gave the rest away. Because I wasn't gonna waste the dessert on something I didn't like.
The line for food was HUGE. I'm so glad that we "cut" in front of Tom. ha! Check it out. It starts at the back door...
As soon as the line died down a bit, the Talent Show started. The first act was a dude playing drums. He was actually pretty good.
And here are the Young Women singing "Peel Bananas" or whatever that song was. The kids thought it was funny.
This was definitely the funniest act. This dad and his son hooked up a Wii, and we watched them Dance to it. LMBO! Hilarious!
The kids kept going back up for more pie. hehe. I got a 2nd piece, and it was even worse than the first piece. This one wasn't cooked all the way (soft) and was still hot. Yeah, NOT what I was wanting. I ended up with about 3 bites of pumpkin pie, and 2 bites of cherry pie. Hmpf!
Here's Jimmy with his pie. Well, Jimmys spoon and his pie....
Emeline's Activity Day girls dancing with ribbons to "I'm Walking on Sunshine". It was SUPER cute!
Here's a family doing a Peanut Butter song. Kinda funny :)
Yeah, see what I had to put up with. He totally shredded the table cloth when I wasn't looking.... grrrr....Here's a family doing a Peanut Butter song. Kinda funny :)
And then they had all the little primary kids come up, and they sang "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam". Tom and his buddy Eston and Joe watching the kids sing.
There were 2 more acts left, and I had Jim sit with me for the rest of the time. He was having a hard time keeping focused. hehe. And I realized that he had 2 left feet! Ha!
After the closing prayer, we headed back home. We put on some Muse and the whole car (minus Jake) was signing and using "microphones" and having a good time. Jake was just pretending that we weren't there. ha!
We got home, had family scripture study, family prayer, and Jake and Tom each took a little kid and put them to bed. Eme went to bed, and I grabbed my old laptop, and started blogging. And the boys and I watched a movie. It was pretty fun. But not terribly effective for me. ha! I only got a little bit of the movie, and it took me twice as long to do my blog. But it was together time with the boys, so it was all good.
I texted back and forth with my neighborhood friend, Terra, too. Her hubby is into Civil War like Captain America. We're going to her twins' bday party next weekend, and I'm excited to hang with her! She's a pretty fun girl :)
Here it is, almost 11pm. After the boys go to sleep, I'm planning on watching an episode of Glee and then going to bed too. Church doesn't start until 1230, AND it's "fall back" with Daylight Savings time. So we get an extra hour! Sa-weet! I'm just glad that my cell phone does it automatically for me. I'm terrible with things like that. hehe.