UEA begins....

We are having our UEA break from school. What is UEA? I'm not really sure. I believe it has something to do with The Utah teacher's union and their meetings. My sister wondered "why don't they plan these teacher meetings in June when there is no school?" hmmm.... Good question.

The kids were out of school Thursday, Friday and will be off Monday as well. When they have a school vacation we try to plan something fun to fill our time. There will be later posts about the fun but Thursday was NOT fun. It became *housecleaning day* and seemed to last an eternity.

Our house was in BAD shape. With our visitors over the weekend and Me going to the BYU game our saturday work did not get done.

I need to point out that Samantha was the first one done with her room. She was quick and thorough and made a point to remind me several times that day that in case I hadn't noticed... she was the good child... she had finished her room a LOOONG time ago.... didn't I like her better than all the other kids since she was so obedient?........

I confess, for a few hours, I did like her just a tiny bit better!

The big girls had a hole to dig out. Their room was in terrible shape and I was merciless. I want that desk cleaned off! I want this dresser more organized! I want that shopping bag that you want to keep, that I have seen on the floor for 6 months, somewhere I can't see it or it's going in the trash next time I walk in this door! etc...

The boys were just in fighting mode which makes them very unproductive. We always have to divide the room. That is a given. They are both responsible for a certain half. When that is done, Jacob has to clean out the closet and Mason has to pull everything out from under the bed and then they have to divide up whatever comes out of those deep, dark places to put away. Dividing the room was not enough Thursday to keep the bickering down so we resorted to our Divide & conquer method which involes each boy sitting on the steps while the other cleans in 1o minute increments. They keep switching until they get it done. That eventually worked.

I took Samantha to Target to exchange a shirt from Auntie Maury that was too small. I told her she could get the same shirt or another one if she found one she liked better. she looked at me with horror on her face and exclaimed, "I could never trade away the shirt that Auntie Maury picked out just for me!!! It's special!!!!! I will always think about her when I wear it." I felt like a terrible mommy for suggesting anything else. See Maury, she may act all unconcerned about her gifts in person but they do mean something to her deep down.

By the time we got home from Target the other children were miraculously finished with their rooms and Mark was home so we went to Macey's to get ice cream. For you locals... they have a new frozen yogurt machine besides the traditional chocolate/vanilla soft serve. They had strawberry and banana this week. I don't usually like artificial banana flavors but the deli clerk insisted it was very good and gave me a sample. It was. It was very subtle and so I got a strawberry/banana twist. It was yummy.

When we got home they finished their room chores and we were finally finished with *housecleaning Thursday*!!!!!!!! Mark had a friend coming over for the BYU game and I was headed to the temple with a friend. Both of us set aside the evening for worship. :)

If you follow football or love someone who does, you probably already know that Mark's evening ended very very very badly..... DANG TCU!!!!

Vacation day number one: Frustrating. exhausting. Over.