Busy busy

 Time has gotten away from me. Today is the first day in two weeks that I have a long to-do list but no outside of the house commitments. So on Tuesday, Nov 18 I took Curtis to get his permit since he was exactly 15 and nine months that day. He did well on the test and everything went super quickly so we were in and out in about 40 minutes and since he passed, I took him out for a little treat at Social. He got a chocolate croissant and hot chocolate and we chatted and I sure love my boy man. He is so tall and grown up in many ways but he still gives me sweet hugs and tells me he loves me and he has a tender heart that I love. It was nice to spend the morning together. 

That night was book club and I was in charge so it was a lot of work and prep and I was pretty stressed about it, but it went well. I picked a book called Eight Flavors about common spices/flavors we use in our cooking and where they came from. I had wanted to have a food for all eight flavors but it got to be a bit much so I got garlic knots from Dominos for garlic, I made lettuce wraps which included garlic, sirracha and soy sauce, then I made pepper cookies and had vanilla ice cream. (no curry, MSG or chili powder). The cookies were particularly stressful because I don't like making cut out cookies and it was a new recipe and I was trying to make them in-between getting an oil change and going to the grocery store and then my afternoon piano lessons so it was a bit crazy but they turned out okay. I didn't love them but other people did and they were unique so fun to try. The discussion wasn't robust and I had to work for it a bit but everyone enjoyed the food and we had fun so that's what matters. Book club is one of my favorite nights of the month and it has always been a blessing to me to have one night to do something I really enjoy. I do love being with my family too and sometimes it is hard to leave (harder now that they are older and I hardly see them during the day) but I always enjoy it when I go. Next month we're doing a book basket party inspired by Lana so that will be fun.

Brandon also started basketball that night so Josh took him to his first practice and it went well. He's in the 5/6 league now and is one of the only fifth graders so hopefully that means his team is good and will be fun to watch. 

That Wednesday we had a sports night for our valiant girls activity. We had different stations and they rotated around doing basketball, jump rope, soccer, bowling, and playing catch, then we did tug of war and a relay all together and I brought stuff for them to make yogurt parfaits, which they loved. I enjoy spending time with Leisa and Donna and the girls are generally easy to have fun with too. I have found that between that and substituting and being a mom that sometimes I do get tired trying to get kids to do stuff but that is just life I guess. It was Leisa's birthday the next day so I brought her some chocolate covered strawberries and we sang to her and the girls guessed that she was 126 years old. :) 

Thursday I substituted at a different elementary school for three hours in third grade and it was okay; I've decided that it is not my favorite school to be in. The other teachers yelled a lot and made me uncomfortable so I don't think I will be going back. I left right from there to meet up with Leisa for a birthday lunch and then I took Emma to dance and went to Evergreen to sub for a half hour for Brandon's teacher from last year. Friday I subbed at Evergreen in the morning for a bit doing PE which was so fun and then later I went to Duke. I was supposed to be there for two hours for one of the special Ed teachers but I basically worked for 15 minutes with three kids and then they did not have anything else for me to do so I left but got paid so yippee! The best part was when I was pulling a student from a classroom and all of a sudden I hear "SISTER DARROW!" and Isla came flying across the room to give me a hug. It was super sweet and made my day. I hadn't even thought about seeing kids I know there so it was a fun surprise. 

It was the 28th anniversary of our first date so after Duke I went by the store and got the fixings for Reeces Pieces sundaes and Josh and I had them when I got home and reminisced about our first date at Friendly's. Then that night we went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat, which is one of my favorite shows. It is so fun and entertaining and a good story and I loved this production of it. We knew six people in it and it was very well done so we had a great time. I was disappointed Lily didn't end up coming with us but she was so behind on homework and sleep and had a big dance rehearsal the next day so she wanted to get to bed early and it was a late show. It was a little preview of what next year will be like I guess and it made me sad, but the show was great and the rest of us had fun.

Saturday I did laundry and packing and drove Curtis around and the girls had rehearsal and Lily had a friends-giving and we went to the library. Josh was gone all day at regional training with Elder Rasband but when he got home we packed up the car and made sure we were all set for our trip.