The week of real school!

 Well, it finally happened. After 12.5 years I spent a day home alone! I've done kid swaps in the past but there was always this pressure to use such precious time as best as possible since it was so valuable. I felt a bit of that on Monday but it will be a regular thing now where I will have these days to myself so I was able to relax and enjoy it. My kids all made fun of me because what I did was clean my bathroom and then do our taxes. It felt good to get things done without interruption and it was so quiet and peaceful and I could do whatever I wanted without having to factor in the needs of my kids. It was heavenly and went by so fast. Then I taught piano and I was so on top of dinner and had everything ready and then family night was good. I even considered making cookies for when my kids got home but ultimately decided against it since the kitchen was clean. 

The kids all had a fantastic day at school and were so happy to be back, Curtis especially. Even Lily was happier than I think she anticipated, even with all the weirdness. The biggest challenge is recess as neither of the bigger kids are really allowed to do anything. Emma somehow got stuck at a desk facing the wall during lunch and that made her really sad but I asked her teacher about it and it was all worked out by Wednesday. Curtis is one of three kids who ride his bus and is the only one at our stop, which is crazy but works for me. They loved being with kids and seeing their teachers and Curtis was so happy to do a stem challenge (a hands-on problem they have to solve, I think it involved straws, toothipicks and holding up a ball or something) instead of staring at a computer screen all day. I keep telling them it isn't going to be normal but it is a step towards normal and to be grateful for it and they definitely were. They were all so happy to go back on Wednesday and Emma was already asking me about making her lunch for tomorrow. 

Tuesday I took Josh to work after his physical therapy appiontment and then it was all about helping Brandon work through his school assignments. I did laundry and taught piano and took the girls to dance. Wednesday I took the time to exercise and it was such a nice day so I went for a half-hour bike ride then did my body pump class. It felt so good! I had considered actually going to the gym but that seems to be a place where the virus can spread so easily and it seems so dumb to get the virus now so I'll just keep riding my bike and doing my zoom class. Then I cleaned out our filing cabinet, which was not fun but has needed to get done for a long time. I still had all the statements from car payments I made on our Corolla that we bought in 2005 and don't even own anymore. It felt good to clean it all out but took longer than I was hoping. The best thing I found was a letter of recommendation I had from the editor of the newspaper I did freelance work for when we lived in California. It was sealed as I was saving it for when I needed it but that opportunity has long passed so I opened it up and read it. It was so nice and really made me feel good to have a professional opinion of my writing. It seriously made my whole week to read such nice things about me doing a job I was never confident about. 

Thursday was lots of school work and piano lessons and dancing and grocery pick up. Friday Josh was home and that was nice. He had been really busy with church and work all week so it was nice to finally have some time to talk and reconnect. I started getting the boy room ready to paint and we watched some Full House as a family after Lily got back from dance. Yesterday I taped the boy room and took Lily to a special dance rehersal and checked out the new dance store one of her teachers opened. It will be so nice when Lily needs new pointe shoes to not have to drive almost two hours! Plus it will be her teacher who will fit her so that will be amazing. I'm really excited about it. She is really progressing and is always dancing around the house. I am really proud of her for how hard she has worked the past few months, especially to build up her confidence on pointe. We watched more Full House and had dinner and then I read a bunch of Harry Potter to Emma and Brandon. We're in the middle of book five and man, Umbridge is the worst! 

Today has been a lovely Sabbath day. Church was wonderful and Emma even shared her testimony today. She said she is super excited to get baptized and that she knows the Book of Mormon is true. I shared mine too and it always bothers me that I get emotional and can't just share my feelings calmly and clearly but I have been thinking a lot about my testimony this week and really felt the need to share it. I feel very blessed to have such a sure knowledge through the Holy Ghost of the truthfulness of the gospel and it really uplifted me and strengthened me today to hear that other people do too and I'm not alone. Everything good in my life has come because of living the gospel and its principles and following Jesus Christ and I'm so grateful for him and his generosity. Everything tough in my life has been mitigated by my faith and his love so that I can handle it, for which I'm also grateful. God is good and life is good and the sunshine has been wonderful and even though two of my kids are driving me crazy today, tomorrow is school!