Church Dance

Primary put on an adult only church dance.  I thought is was perfectly ironic.  I hate dressing up so went in my jeans of the day and some heals and off we went.  I don't know what came into me but as soon as  I entered the doors I was ready to dance. Filled with excitement and energy!  It was sooo much fun!  There were probably about 20 of us that were on the dance floor all night from Paul Krey in his 80's and never took a break and most of us who were waiting for our era of music of Britney and New Kids on the Block.

I felt like I was back in high school at Prom and we all had a great time.  I think the best part was that everyone who was there just felt so wanted, loved and supported.  I can't describe it but it was awesome.  In some strange way it was such a uniting activity.  People were dressed in their high school clothes, letterman jackets from the 50's and eager to tell me about making Varsity Football or a youth photo.

I was so happy for Stacie.  She worked so hard on the dance and it was a huge success!

Preparing for Conference

For some reason homeschooling has been good for me to be more gospel centered.  It is probably because my mornings are focused on my kids and family.  I don't usually do a great job preparing my kids for conference.  It is something I get so excited for but could definitely prepare our hearts and homes for their messages.

We were all talking about conference last night after our church dance which was soo much fun!  It got me so excited and I know it is going to be great.  My mother in law just sent me Saints.  Shawna was just telling me how she was reading this and it was so good.  It seems like an easy read so I am going to read it with the kids each night.  I also started running a little bit in the morning and listen to conference talks but I want us to listen to last conference together as a family each night.  It is so easy to put it on youtube and sit, listen and reflect. I usually plan and have a hard time following through a week later.  I can do it for 2 weeks.  Baby steps.  I am really excited for conference.  I know it will be a great, uplifting weekend and even better if we are prepared.

Everyday Life

Since I have not been working, it has been fun enjoying the everyday mundane joys of life.  We went to the dollar store and bought slime ingredients.  It created hours of fun and the kids enjoyed creating slime bubbles.  Hanna got a car for her birthday which has become one of our favorite and only toys in the home.  It reminds me of my parents home.  The kids rode one of those cars around their island for miles and miles.  Parker and Blake like to bring Kira around on it.  I think Scott had that thing figured out at 10 months but he had nobody to do it for him.  Just like Hanna had rocking herself in her carseat figured out at a couple of months. Her parents are now too busy to rock her.  Kids are adaptable.  Homeschooling has been great for our schedule.  I feel like we have the perfect balance of school, down time, play time and activities.  The small pockets of waiting for someone in a class or waiting for others to drop off have become these pockets of quality down time at parks which I am loving.  In some ways I feel like Scott and Tyler are in middle school world.  They are busy with friends and activities and pretty self sufficient.  Kira is in the middle of the two worlds and I have Blake, Parker and Hanna that remind me of my preschool days with Scott and Tyler.  It is pretty magical the second time around because I am treasuring it because I know how fast it goes.  I feel like homeschooling has given me that opportunity and it is exactly what we all need.

Saturday: Meet and Reservoir

When Kira and I went to her gymnastics meet which was pretty much an All day activity, Danny bought a new bike for Tyler.  A new-used bike is how we roll.  Then the 3 younger kids all went riding around the Lafayette Reservoir.  Tyler and Scott were at Camp Fetterman doing an 11 year old camp activity.  Scott volunteered and Tyler got a lot of requirements done. The kids all had fun.  It was nice for Blake and Danny to spend some time together because the past couple of months they haven't spent much time together.

Kira had her very first gymnastics meet on Saturday.  We went to Sacramento with two of her friends which was the BEST!!! She had so much fun sitting in the back, talking, playing, watching a movie.   It was probably the best part of the entire meet.  Kira likes gymnastics but her coach quit about 2 months ago and it has been a hard adjustment for her.  It was also a lot of fun for me to talk to moms on the ride.  They are cheer/STUNT coaches and really good at it so it is fun to talk coaching with them. Anyone who has talked to me lately is well aware that I have a burning desire in my entire being so see better developed sports programs in Brentwood.  A lot of athletes travel over the hill when they get to a certain level and I want to see that change.

Anyway, back to the meet.  She had a serious smile on her face most of the time.  I was really proud of her having fun with her teammates, cheering them on and enjoying the day.  Gymnastics is a more serious sport than swimming.  The kids don't talk as much as Kira would probably like so it was fun for her to be surrounded by teammates and cheering them on.  The girls all did great.  I was so proud of them.  They are a great group and a great group of parents.  

Straw Hat Field Trip

Parker is doing preschool 3x a week with Miss Tami.  It is AMAZING!  I have always done preschool co-ops with friends which I have loved, however, I am old and tired...LOL!  The break comes at the perfect time in the afternoon for me at 11:30 when I need to get the home cleaned up or when Blake needs quality time.  2-3 year old McMillan boys are the hardest for me.  They are non stop, energy filled and will run for hours.  Parker is fearless, he will climb fences and be off so unless I am watching him at all times. So I am energy filled from 8-11 in the morning with reading, playing, puzzles, painting, co-ops in the morning and look forward to 3 days that I get to be with just Blake.  Parker likes it.  His teacher said he has grown the most out of everyone because he has to work so hard to pronunciate for the other kids to understand him and actually plays with the kids instead of parallel to them now.  He is one of the youngest in the group and it has been so good for him.  Love it!

This was our first field trip with him PM class.  Blake got to come along which was really fun for him.  They got to play with dough.  Hanna liked to eat it.  Then they rolled their dough, put on the sauce, toppings and ate it up.  They all wondered where the dishes were in the dishwasher.  It was a super fun morning and the kids had a great time!  The moms had a great time too!

Kitchen remodel is done

Heidi should be the one to update this blog because she is home with the kids, but since she hasn't, I'm going to do it.  

Here are Scott and Tyler with some of the scouts at Camp Fetterman, a local property converted to use for scout overnighters.  

The $15,000 remodel.  You just can't beat the power of buying used appliances on craigslist.  Just the fridge would have been $8500.  There are lots of ways I'd rather spend $8500 and a fridge is not one of them.  I am most happy about the granite because the color and quality of installation were the best.  I'm least happy about the cabinets because of the quality of the paint.  I would have gone with black, like Britton, but Heidi wanted white.  Happy wife = happy life. 

Let's not forget my hand-made Eastern black walnut table.

Labor day family picture, sans Kira, before the meltdowns.  Kira was in Tahoe with her cousins.

Four McMillan brothers, circa 2018

Tyler had his 11th birthday.  He can be so charming.  Generally, he's grateful for the gifts we get him and he doesn't seem to care what brand he owns.  He is the opposite of "keeping up with the Joneses."  Other times, he's quite effective at getting Kira and Blake riled up. 

That's all.  Have a nice day.  That's what Trump said to the victims of Hurricane Florence. 

3 Day Weekend

Kira got invited to go to Tahoe with Paisley which I know is going to be so fun for her.  They went on a ropes course, boating and floating down the River.  What a special time she will have with her cousins and Heather and Jay.  So grateful for their generosity and including her.  Plus, sometimes it is a much needed break from her brothers.  She and Tyler love to get on each others nerves so I felt like this came at the perfect time.

Usually we go away for Labor day since I love taking advantage of days off but this year we didn't.  Instead I just wanted to do day trips or activities and I am so glad that we did.  Sometimes I am tired from sleeping in hotels with a baby and six kids and tired from just being away that I feel like I need a vacation from a vacation.  

One day, the kids all hung out and played during the day and then Danny needed to go do something at a Stake baptism so I took the kids to pump it up and McDonalds.  We were going to go to La Costa but they wanted to keep playing so we went to McDonalds.  It was the smallest, simplest little outing and they had a blast.  We were gone for hours and they all had a great time.  The following day we had friends over from church.  It was totally last minute and we decided to host a dinner.  We went to the golf course and hung out.  Blake had a hard time for some of it.  I realized sometimes a lot of noise really bothers him.  Kind of like Danny and he just needs down time sometimes and we didn't really have that.  It was loud but I think everyone had a great time.  We went to golf course after dinner and that was so nice.  It was the perfect weather out and we had a good time.

Tomorrow we are going to San Francisco.  We are going to leave early so we can get back in time to get Kira and enjoy a relaxing afternoon.  I am excited.  A mix of a little bit of everything.  Something I inherited from my mom is feeling guilty for not doing a lot.  Making the most of time off.  Sometimes I think that is going, going, going.  But I have realized that down time is good.  Quiet time is good.  Quality time is good.  That isn't always going somewhere else or somewhere far.  Sometimes I still feel that pressure that we need to do something more extravagant or we are waisting days off but I realize that is crazy.  I just need to retrain my brain.