CRAZY WEEK...NOT OVER YET...

This last week has been absolutely crazy! Here it is in a nutshell:

* Saturday - Vacation Bible School. Our church had it on a Saturday this year. It started at 12:30 PM Saturday afternoon and went into the evening and overnight at church and then helping plan a pancake breakfast for Sunday morning. I signed up to be the VBS photographer and put together a slide show of photos for our Sunday morning service. Around mid-afternoon our little Faith fell off the monkey bars on the playground and I ended up taking her to Urgent Care because one of the VBS volunteers who is a nurse thought Faith may have fractured her wrist. Fortunately X-rays showed that it was just bruised and back to VBS Faith wanted to go. Our kids decided not to stay overnight (Scott and I were THRILLED to say the least) but wanted to be back at church by 8 AM Sunday morning to help prepare the pancakes. We were not really looking forward to the whole thing but it turned out to be pretty fun! However, hopefully next year will be spread out over a few days again.

* On Sunday my parents and I went to visit my Aunt Elaine in the hospital. Scott stayed home with the kids and moved our office furniture down to our family room in the basement. More on that later.

* Monday was the start of a painting project that I promised my brother I would do for him...the inside of his garage. I decided that I would paint in the evenings after Scott got home from work so the kids could stay home. My goal was to complete the project by Wednesday night. Monday I painted until 10:45 PM and seriously thought I had set my goal about two days too early. It was hot...like sweat-dripping-off-of-me hot...even during the evening.

* Tuesday morning my Aunt Elaine passed away. Tuesday night I was back in the garage painting. Not quite as hot but certainly not cool by any means! Made great progress...Wednesday night completion was certainly looking possible.

* Wednesday was Adventure Day. Went to a neighboring town to enjoy their community center's indoor pool/water park. It's nothing elaborate, but it was fun to be with the kids and not doing anything else. Was back out at my brother's a little after 6 PM and finished...yes FINISHED...the painting project by about 11 PM! YIPEE!!!!!!! Thankfully the evening was a little cooler last night with a slight breeze. With the windows open it made it a little more comfortable.

* Today I'm hoping to head over to my parents house to see if there is anything I can do to help with packing up their house. After much time, anticipation and waiting, their house has sold and they will be closing on August 28. Their new townhomes have not started to be built yet...hopefully it will start in the next couple of weeks...so for the next several months...most likely through the end of the year / January at the earliest, they will be moving in with us! Our office has it's own bathroom and closet so that will be their new bedroom / bathroom and our home will also become theirs. The kids are excited and so are Scott and I. I'm sure it will have it's "moments" but all-in-all we are looking forward to them being here by the end of the weekend. We will "clean" their house next week while it is completely empty. For those of you who know my mother, cleaning will be a breeze...she is a maticulous housekeeper...so it should be quite an easy task.

* Tomorrow I will be taking the kids to Scott's parents in Edina by late morning and Grandpa and Grandma will take them to the Science Museum of Minnesota to see the Star Wars exhibit. Parker has been wanting to go and so has Scott's mom. The kids will stay overnight at G&G's and Friday night I will attend the visitation service for my Aunt and Scott will attend an overnight retreat that is being put on by our church at a nearby retreat center.

* Saturday Scott will still be at the retreat and I will attend my Aunt's funeral service. The kids will still be at G&G's who will return them by mid-afternoon. Faith has a birthday party to attend at 4:30 PM...her first "real" birthday party invite that doesn't include the rest of our family.

* Sunday morning church followed by moving my parents. Not an ideal project for a Sunday...original plan was Saturday but due to the funeral the scheduled needed to change. Although "heavy" work is not something that my parents or Scott and I usually allow on a Sunday, there is an exception to be made here. They are able to store their stuff in one of the garages at the townhome complex they will be moving to. Sunday evening will be their first night with us...their new home for now.

* Next week is the last week of summer before school starts. I will now have two "school-aged" children, as Faith will be starting preschool and Parker will be in 4th grade. Not sure what I will do while Faith is in school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9-11:30 AM...but I'm sure I'll think of something. Hmmmmm...may a couple good naps to get myself caught back up again.

Hope you've been having a good week. Thanks for letting me get the stress of this past week off my chest. I'm incredibly relaxed today knowing that my painting project is COMPLETE! That was REALLY STRESSING ME OUT!!!!!!!

Thanks, friends, for being there to keep me sane, level, and loved.

Peace.
Jeanine