One Down... Eight to Go

Friday night Jer finished his first semester of his new program. He took three classes and got two As and one A- or B+ (we won't know until next week). YEAH!!! It was definitely not easy on him, me, or the kids, but we survived and learned a lot and hopefully are adjusting to this adventure.

To celebrate the kids and I planned a "Good Job Dad" party after his test of Friday.

The kids all made "Good Job Dad" signs that we hung on the garage door so he would see them right as he pulled up."

Then, I asked Katie to make a list of the things that Dad would like to do to celebrate. This is what she came up with:

If you can't read the picture it says: Play with us, Read with Us, Eat Cake

Then the kids made a cake. Here is Will crying after I screamed "Stop!" when he dumped half a bottle of canola oil into the cake batter. Apparently, I hurt his feelings. He was even more upset when I dumped the batter down the sink and we started over.

Matthew and Katie working on the cake. They really pretty much did the whole thing themselves.

We let Jeremy choose what to have for dinner and he wanted to eat at the steakhouse in Manti. I was thrilled, the kids were not as much. BUT to make it funner for them, Jer read from Fablehaven while we waited for our food. It made the whole experience much more enjoyable. (And took care of another item on Katie's list.)

When we got home Jeremy and the kids played Monopoly Jr. (not Will... he fell asleep on the drive home), we ate cake and the party was over.

Saturday morning we had a garage sale. We didn't get rich, but we did get rid of stuff! Jeremy and I sold everything we wanted to except to end tables, but he really wanted to keep those anyway so it worked out. My mom still had quite a bit of stuff unsold, but it was mostly clothes which are going to the DI on Wednesday. Mission accomplished!

Saturday evening, as soon as Jer got home from the farm, we went down to the city building for Ephraim City Days where we enjoyed free hamburgers (served by the volunteer fire and rescue guys) and free ice cream (served by the mayor and city council, including Grandpa Cragun).

They had a police car, ambulences, and fire trucks open for the kids to explore. This was very fun. Actually, Will was a little nervous at first because he is scared of vehicles with sirens, but he wamed up.

Ashton especially was delighted to sit in the fire engines, look through the binoculars, and try on a fire-fighter hat because when he grows up he "wants to be a farmer and a fire fighter."

It was a super busy weekend, but very fun! We are really looking forward to have Jer all to ourselves this week.