After our meetings with the girls, Ray and I fixed dinner and had Kate and the boys come over for dinner.  Ray's friend Tyler also came over to eat with us too.

Tanner, Colton & Kinlee dancing.

Brady laughing at me, I guess I was funny looking.

Brady and Ray.  Boy, are we going to miss that little guy!

T.G.I.F.

Yeah, it is Friday!!! On Friday, I take the girls to school like the rest of the week, and the I go to work until 10:30 and then I head back to Kinlee's school to help in her class. I test the kids on the math skills they have learned during the week. It is fun to get to know the kids she goes to school with. Like I said in one of the other posts, however, I am not really sure how I feel about her teacher. She is really hard on the kids sometimes and I am pretty sure some parents would not approve of the things she says to their children. I pull each of kids away one on one to quiz them, so if any of them have been mean to other kids and Kinlee tells me about it, I have been known to ask them about it. They really are pretty good kids and this is the last year I can help at school.
Kinlee is right in the middle of this picture sitting down with the bright pink shirt.

After I went to the school, on my way back to work I decided my car needed washed,
so I went to the carwash and since I had my camera, I took a picture.

Lunch at the office - sometimes we all eat together.

Daryl (my boss) and Becky grazing on what was left.

Right after work on Friday I ran to the grocery store  Then I brought it all home and we put away everything that went in the fridge and freezer.  Jerika has a new friend and she has been spending some time over at his house.  He really is just a friend, I think, which is fine with me because boys are so much nicer and there is no drama when she hangs out with boys.  I know that sounds like I am in lala land, but it is so true.  Some of the girls Jerika's age can be so mean!!!!!!!!!  Anyway, we left and went over to his house to meet his mom so that I felt better about her spending time there.  She seems really nice.  They just moved here from Utah.  After that, Kinlee and I went over to Kate's to have dinner with her and the boys.  When we were done eating dinner, we made granola bars and indoor smores. It was a lot of fun.

I also defrosted my freezer on Friday.  I was getting some hamburger Friday night from my friend Jennifer, so I had to make sure there was room in the freezer and that it was defrosted.  Luckily it didn't take as long as I thought it would and the hamburger did fit.

The groceries that didn't get put away before we left for Kates.  I also see the granola bars in the picture too.

Ray came home late Friday night, so I cooked him dinner after he got home. 
I think he looks a little tired here.

Thursday - Almost the Weekend

Another day another dollar? I dropped the kids off at school and then headed to work. I can't remember if it was Wed. morning or Thursday, but one of those mornings before I went to work, I stopped at Albertsons for the cereal sale. Anyway, Thursday was a pretty normal work day. My boss didn't show up in at Kilt like he did the day before, which is a whole other story. I can't remember for sure what I had for lunch either. I think that I should have been doing these blogs the day after they happened. So, I guess I will blog what I remember. On Thursdays Kinlee has dance. Either Nakia or Allisa picks her, Brayli and Mya up at school and then Mya and Brayli have dance at 3. Kinlee stays to watch them dance and then whoever is driving that day brings her to my office where she stays until 5 and then her dance starts at 5:15. Usually while she dances I either read my book or run errands until she is done at 6. That however was not the case this week. I have been having some issues with my shoulder, so I got me an appointment for a massage on Thursday, totally forgetting about dance, even though it was on my calendar. Anyway, I was going to cancel my appointment, but my Good friend Becky at work told me she would take Kinlee to dance and then I could just pick her up when dance was over because I would be done by then. So, I went to get my massage while Kinlee stayed at work with Becky and then Becky took her to dance at 5 and it all worked out just fine.

Once again, I love my friend Jalayn and I am feeling much better!!

Kinlee was waiting very patiently outside of dance when I got there. I told her that I would stop somewhere and get her and Jerika some dinner, since I had to be at Bunco at 7. And I felt bad because I made her wait, but she said she had just barely gotten outside, so I wasn't late and it was all good.

Top row: Jalaine, Tiffnie, Whittney, Laurel & Bottom row: Me, Brooke, Angie, Hali

This is my other Bunco group. Yes, I have two groups. I just really like all of them too much to quit one of my groups. We usually don't have bunco on the same week, but this month it just happened to work that way. However, I must say this group was much more cooperative when I asked them if I could take their picture. There was no arguing, swearing or anything. THANKS GUYS!!
After bunco I came home and got the girls to bed and then I read for awhile. I did take a picture of my book, but I haven't downloaded it to my computer yet, so there are only 3 pictures for today. Wow, what I crazy week. A few more days to go.

Wednesday - St. Patrick's Day

Since it was St. Patrick's Day Becky, Lori, Linda & I (my besties from work) decided we needed to be festive so we went Great Harvest Bread and bought the green bread they make special for that day. After school Kinlee went over to Nakia's house to play, so I took them some of the festive bread and they all liked it. They were a little scared at first, but then they realized it really wasn't that bad.
Then we went home and made GREEN french toast for dinner. It was really pretty good and the girls seemed to enjoy it. Jerika's friend was here when we ate and I'm not sure if she was disgusted or what, but she wouldn't eat it. She did say I was a fun mom though. At 6:30 we took Kinlee to Allisa's house to play while we went to Young Womens. Allisa is so so so so so nice to keep her every Wednesday, and we can't thank her enough.

This is Jerika and her friend who wouldn't eat the french toast. I told her that she looks much more silly covering her face for the picture that she would if she would just cooperate. So, there she is silly, silly girl. Jerika was in charge of helping make flowers for hair. There were different stations and she took on that task and did a very good job. One of her other friends showed up later and they both helped her. I am really thankful for Jerika's friends!! She has some really good friends, I just wish they lived in our ward. They will every now and then go to each others mutual so they can be together. I really don't see anything wrong with that, but I don't really know other people's opinions and I'm not sure I care, is that bad?

These are all the young women and the different stations, this station was Jerikas flower station. The mia maids were in charge.

This station was the quilt tying station.  We got 2 baby quilts tied for the humanitarian center.  Yeah service.

This station was like the Dating game, but with moms and girls.  These moms were answering questions while the daugthers were in the other room.

Silly girls answering questions about their moms in the other room.

This station the girls were discussing which project they were planning on displaying for Young Women in Excellence.  It was such a good night and we really got a lot accomplished.  By the time we got everything cleaned up it was after 9, so we went and got Kinlee and then came home.  I'm pretty sure I watched a little television after I put the children to bed, then I fell asleep about 10:30, which is really early for me.

Tuesday

This is Kinlee walking to the playground at the school where they have to wait until the bell rings. She didn't much want to hang out with me another day, so she chose to go to school. Actually I would have made her go whether she wanted to or not. I'm really not sure how I feel about her teacher this year, so I really don't blame her for not liking school.

This is the cube that I sit in all day every day. I was really busy on Tuesday since I was gone on Monday. And we got a lot of orders so that was a really good thing. Today I had leftovers for lunch so I didn't even leave the office until 5:00. After work I ran to Albertsons because it was the last day their chicken was on sale. After that I ran home to get the girls because Jerika has voice lessons at 5:30 on Tuesdays. Voice lessons lasts 3o minutes and then this week we went into town afterward and I got the girls dinner off the dollar menu at McDonalds and then went to the Cocoa Bean (cupcake store) and got my friend Sonia a cupcake for her birthday a day late.  (Wow that was a long run on sentence.) Then we came back to Sugar City and delivered the cupcake and then went home to make sure the house was clean for Bunco.

Jerika going into voice lessons.

Jerika, Attina and me too if you look really close.

Jerika & Attina (voice teacher)

This is what Kinlee and I do during voice lessons, sit in the car and read or whatever.

This is my very uncooperative Bunco group who really didn't want their picture taken so I took it while they weren't looking and I think maybe next time they will cooperate a little better and I won't have to post silly pictures of them. Bunco was supposed to be at Nakia's house but since her kids go to bed before we get done, we did it at my house instead. Bunco usually goes from 7 to 9. I won the loser prize.

They finally let Kinlee take their picture after I told them to either pose or get the "swear word" out of my house.  Even though I was really grumpy that night, I do love all of them and we have tons of fun!!

This is Monday...

Monday morning Kinlee came into my bedroom, which she usually does just to make sure I am awake. On a very regular basis she tells me her stomach hurts and that she doesn't feel good. After that I usually tell her to go eat breakfast and she will feel better, and I usually call her bluff and make her go to school. Since I didn't go to bed until 2 on Sunday morning and 1:30 on Monday morning, I decided not to argue with her. I told her to go back to bed and I would let her stay home. So, Jerika got ready and I took her to school, which is the picture below, she is on the right. I was in the car and was pretty scary looking so I didn't want to get too close and she was almost to the door when I actually took the picture.

After dropping Jerika off, I came back home and Kinlee was asleep, so I decided I would lay back down until she woke up. Well, we both slept until about 11:30. When she got up she was feeling much better. She told me then that she thought she had Activity Day and I told her she wouldn't be able to go since she stayed home from school. She then told me that I had told her she could go to school if she felt better, so she wanted to go to school. I told her no, that she could stay home the rest of the day and not do anything fun. She spent most of the day watching tv in Jerika's bedroom, but don't tell Jerika. And I spent most of the day working on a project for Dan (one of my co-workers) from work on my laptop. Nakia called at 2 and wanted to know if Jerika was coming home after school so she could go to Rexburg with her. Jerika had to stay a little late to finish her art project, so I told Nakia to bring her kids over here, since I was pretty sure Kinlee wasn't sick and they wouldn't get anything. Nakia brought them all over here and I asked Kinlee if she had been faking and she told us yes. She is precious. Nakia left right before Jerika called needing a ride, so she picked Jerika up at the school and then they went to Rexburg while I played with the kids. Okay, while I held Rylen, he even went to sleep so I got to cuddle him.

When Jerika got back home and Nakia and her kids left, we decided to do some laundry and organize the pantry. Kinlee looks really sick in this picture, doesn't she? They organized and cleaned while I fixed dinner, which was stuffed pasta, green beans and croissants. We usually try to have family home evening on Sunday while Ray is home, so Monday nights we try to catch up with stuff we don't get done during the weekend. After the girls went to bed I watched 20/20 and read my book for a little while. I still didn't go to bed very early Monday night, but I guess I did sleep in, so I wasn't really tired. And there you have our EXCITING Monday.

As promised - here is the beginning of "A Week in the Life of Us"

I wanted to start this on Sunday and I totally forgot to take my camera with me everywhere, so I don't have any pictures for Sunday!!  The reason I am doing this is for my own information and just for fun, but I thought I would share it anyway.   

Sunday morning I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. finishing the book I was reading.  I am not one who likes to read really DEEP thought books.  I read for the entertainment factor and that is pretty much all.  That being said, the book I stayed up late to finish was The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks and I really enjoyed it.  Sunday morning we got up at 8 for church, and I am pretty sure that if we weren't supposed to save a place for Kate and the boys, we most likely would have slept in (I can't believe I admitted that).  Church starts at 9, which really was 8 because of the time change, but we made it on time.  Church is 3 hours, then afterward I sent the family home and I stayed at the church for my young womens class presidency meeting, which lasted until 1:00.  After that meeting we had a Leadership meeting with my counselors and advisors, which lasted until 2:00.  But is was a good meeting, because Jocelyne brought food for us to eat and it was really yummy.  Not to mention the fact that I felt like we really accomplished a lot. 

We were supposed to be at mom and dad's house at 2:00 for dinner with the family.  We were just a little bit late and we had lunch with mom, dad, Nakia and Blake's families.  Then we left there and came home for about an hour then went to a going away party for our friends Tim and Tess.  Yes, they live in our ward too and they are moving, which also makes us sad!!  Tim is Ray's home teaching partner and he is so funny!!  He makes Sunday School really fun too.  Anyway, we were there for about an hour and then we came home and I worked on my calendar and Ray got his stuff ready to leave the next day. 

Ray was in bed by about 9 and I have to admit we watched Desperate Housewives and then Ray fell asleep and I watch the Celebrity Apprentice because I couldn't sleep.  I was up until about 1:30.

AND THAT WAS SUNDAY!

My friend Kate

MY GOOD FRIENDS - DAVE & KATE are moving to Washington, well Dave has already moved.  Anyway, I hate that they are moving!!  I'm not even sure how long they have lived in our ward, but I am pretty sure they only had 1 baby when they moved here and now they have 3 little boys.  I am so sad to see them go!!  She has been what I would call a "life changing asset" to our ward.  This wasn't the easiest ward to move into when I first moved here and she has really rallied people together to make it the good ward that it is.  She will try to tell you the credit shouldn't all go to her, but I'm am sure that is one of the main reasons she was sent to little Sugar City, Idaho.  I am also pretty sure she will have the same affect on her ward in Washington when she moves to live with Dave the beginning of April.  I had the pleasure of serving with her in the Young Womens and just recently as I struggled with some problems, she we the VOICE OF REASON!!  She is so much younger than me, but wise way beyond her years.  I know she will still be just a phone call away, but we are going to miss her REALLY, REALLY bad!!   Before Dave left, we had a little party for them at their house, which is for sale by the way, so if anyone is in the market, let me know.  Anyway, here are a few pictures from the party.

Kate, Braden & Dave

Just some of the many guests and people that love the Mills.

Colton, Callie, Kate, Jocelyn, Suzette, Me, Kathy

Tanner. Wow, that is blurry.  Anyway, they are the cutest boys and I am going to miss them.  They have been my little buddies at church.  I get to color with them and usually I take them treats.  I guess I am going to have to adopt some other little kids to sit by us at church, but it just won't be the same!!  Kinlee doesn't understand why I am so upset, she said we could just go visit on the weekends.  Little does she know it takes so much longer to get there than Utah and she hates that trip.  Anyway, we will all miss you guys!!

GOODBYE, we Love you and we will try to visit.

Yes, I am outside.

Ray's friend let him borrow his sled for a few weekends, so we had a little family time a few Saturday's ago. I did drive the snow machine and it was fun for a little while, but I certainly was glad to go back into the house where it was warm. The girls, on the other hand, loved riding it with their dad and spending time with him. His mom even let Ray take her for a ride too. It really wasn't all that bad, and we were just in the field behind our church, so I knew I could go home whenever I wanted.

Look at the white spot on Ray's jacket, that was a snowflake in mid air.

Ray actually let both of the girls drive the snowmachine too.

It was a fun day had by all!!

Stay tuned this week for the Young version of a week in the life of Janel, Jerika & Kinlee.