A Busy But Fun Week

The beginning of our week was a little crazy, but we handled it and have been enjoying our fall break.

Monday was Maggie's eye appointment in Salt Lake. I had to check her out of school early so we could make it on time. When I made the appointment she hadn't started school yet so I had no idea that her fall break would be at the end of this week and I should have scheduled it for Thursday or Friday. Oh well. I don't think she minded getting out early too much. She mentioned later that she didn't have to do PE because of it.

We recieved more good news this time. Her eyes are twice as good as they were at her last appointment. I was totally in shock when he told me that. Since she has been in school we have had a difficult time patching her eye after school. Then when she started her Princess U class after school she wasn't getting home until after 5:00. She was only getting 2-3 hours of patching a day instead of the recommended 6-8 hours. She will still need to patch for next three months and then we go back again to see what improvements she's made. It was good to hear that despite my lazy forgetfullness her eye was doing it's job and working hard.

Tuesday was my 28 week appointment. Everything sounds good. Nice strong heartbeat and lots of activity. Just before the Dr. walked in the room I got a nice forceful kick to the ribs. The first thing she asked me was if the baby was moving a lot. Yeah, sometimes a little too much!

Wednesday was the first grade field trip. I was going to be a chaperone so we all had to be ready to go, with lunches in hand, by 9:00 AM. I almost forgot the lunches. Almost. At one point during our drive from Evanston to Syracuse, Utah (apparently there are not any farms in our area) I got squeezed out of the convoy by a dump truck merging onto the freeway. I didn't really think much of it since I had gotten directions off the internet just in case. After the truck got into the lane of traffic he just kind of sat in the way and I couldn't get around him to get back behind the bus. I decided to go ahead and just go. I would meet them all there. So I was following my directions to the exit they said and as I was leaving the freeway I looked in my rear view mirror to see the buses continuing to go straight. Not a problem. I'll just keep following my directions. Turned out to be a problem. They were horrible directions and I got a little lost. Luckily I had my laptop with me so I tried again. Still gave me the same directions. I decided just to head back to the freeway we were on and find another exit. Once off the freeway I found a place to stop and try again. It finally gave me a different route and we were off. By the time we got there all the others had loaded onto the hayride. Not too bummed about missing the hayride. It was probably a little more bouncy than I could have handled.

Zoe waiting patiently for the hayride to return

By the time they all got back it was time for our lunch and for the kids to just run around and play.

Before our lunch was done they started the pig races. It was pretty funny to see how fast those little pigs can run. They said their reward at the end were Oreo cookies and by the way they were running they must really like Oreo's. It was very funny and the kids loved it.As soon as the pigs were done the girls were off to explore and climb and slide. This farm was pretty amazing. Lots to do. The only thing Zoe wanted to do was go down the largest slide they had and then run around and climb up the rope ladder and do it again. It made it nice for me since I could sit at the table near by and keep an eye her. I didn't have to worry about where she was. There were a couple of times she was a little slow getting up the ladder and I started to wonder if she ran somwhere else, but then I would see her head just over the top of the slide.Just moments before the teachers started rounding up the kids to leave Zoe was at the top of the slide crying. Two employees were trying to help her and find out what was wrong. She was crying pretty good and lifting up her shirt. I had no idea what it was all about. One of the guys went down the slide with her and told me she had gotten a bee sting. Oh lovely! One of the Moms sitting at the table with me had a first aid kit so we got her wiped down with alchohol and a dab of antibiotic ointment on the sting. It got a little red for a few seconds, but it never swelled up and it didn't seem to bother her at all. She just looks like she got poked with a needle. It's good to know she's not allergic. No serious medical attention was required. After all that drama the girls decided to run over to the bouncy house pumpkin. They barely had enough time to jump a couple of times and then it was time to go. We all had a great time and I am so glad I was able to take Zoe and let her run and be crazy.After the field trip I signed a release so I could take Maggie in the car with me. We headed down to Mom and Dad's for the rest of the week. Since we were so close to her house we decided to stop in and say hi to Tanaya and Cheryl. We had a good visit and then headed out. I even got some jam out of that visit that I'm excited to try. The girls got some baby squash out of the visit and I think Tanaya's attempt to become their favorite is working. They enjoy being around her and her family.

(Pictures of the rest to be added later)
Thursday was another big day...well afternoon anyway. We had plans to meet up with my good friend Maria and her kids at Cornbelly's Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point. Another shock for me. That place was huge and they had so much stuff to do. ALL the kids had a really good time. We got to take Landon and Camille with us which made it even more fun. Landon decided to do the bull ride. He did really well. Future cowboy? They were both really good and taking Zoe with them and making sure she had a good time. She escaped once, but luckily I caught her before she got too far.

I did have a minor heart attack while we were getting everyone packed up and ready to leave. I started looking around to make sure all MY kids were close and ready to leave when I realized that Maggie was no where to be seen. NO WHERE!! I started to panic a bit and Maria started to get worried as well. She left her oldest with her baby so she could walk around and look for her. I left Zoe with Landon and sent Camille to look in the Shaved Ice shack where she was last seen. I walked into three or four little buildings around and no one could see her. Total fear and panic has now set in. Landon was on his way to the information booth to have her paged when we hear a voice say,"we have a lost little girl at the information booth named Maggie Tomlinson..." I started walking that way with all the other kids while Landon ran ahead to get her. By that time Maria was also pretty close and got over there to help her calm down. I'm not totally sure what happened since we were all standing together as a group. She apparently went to look at something and must have gotten turned around. She couldn't see us anymore. She was close to the face painting booth we had been at just minutes before so she told the girl she was lost and that sweet girl helped her to the information booth. After Maggie tried to explain what had happened she said, "I did the right thing Mom." Yes you did! You found an adult and asked for help. Good job. I hope we don't have to experience anything like that again! So after the collective sigh of relief we left Cornbelly's and headed home. With everyone in the car!!

After all that excitement I really needed a day of rest. However, I had a few things I needed to do while in the big city. Yes, Provo is a very big city with tons of shopping compared to Evanston. I'm not sure how many more times we will be coming down before having the baby so I needed to start looking for carseats. I also needed to find Zoe some shoes. She has grown out of all her church shoes and her boots. I was so tired and sore from the day before that I didn't get to do all I wanted to. I found shoes and possibly a carseat. Mission mostly accomplished.

So today is really going to be a rest day. Tanaya and her family will down here this afternoon and we plan to have lunch with them. Those are the only plans for today. Should be nice.

We hope Glenn had an enjoyable weekend with the guys and got to shoot something!