Life and Times of The Johnston family: Catching Up On The Past Couple Weeks

So I haven't posted in a couple weeks, life's been pretty busy! So lets go back a couple weeks... Monday April 22nd was Earth day so school lessons were obviously on that. We talked about the 3 R's reduce reuse and recycle, along with other ways to save energy and water. We talked about plants and trees and why they're so important...it was a good week! That night was swimming lessons. Tuesday morning Devin had Speech therapy which went well. That evening was dance/tumbling. Wednesday morning Mary came down again to play with Elizabeth(she gets so excited to play with Mary!!)and I took Devin to playgroup, which went pretty well. That evening was swimming lessons again. Thursday morning Devin had behavioral therapy, which was really good. That evening was scout meeting, which went really well. Friday morning I called on a spreading rash Devin had on his legs, back and arm, and ended up making an appointment for that afternoon. I packed up a lunch and my mom took the kids and I to a really fun park to play and have a picnic lunch. While Devin was napping I packed an overnight bag for Elizabeth as she was having a sleepover with her Aunt Ketty and cousin Emily. After Devin's nap I drove down to Ketty's work and dropped off Elizabeth and her sleepover stuff. Then took Devin to his doctor appointment, they had a bit of an emergency earlier in the day so they were running WAY behind...like 45 minutes or more! We ended up waiting it the waiting room for over an hour(we did get there early though). But it turned out his pediatrician did that on purpose as she was ready and waiting for us when we got back to the exam room. She told me she thought he'd wait better out there than in the small boring exam room. I LOVE DR. SANDVIG!!!!! This is why I will drive an hour to keep her as my children's pediatrician! She knew Devin well enough to know having to wait twice was not going to go over well. She checked out his rash and diagnosed him with severe eczema...poor boy. We left with a steroid cream and a new set of care instructions to deal with it. I then met Tony at the Trax station, and we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner...it was delicious!! Saturday Tony and my dad worked in the backyard. Tony got all our "play equipment" put in their permanent place, then he and my dad did some prep for the garden. My mom, Devina and I went to Sams Club where we found a fun Baby Einstein book that played several classic songs when you pushed different animal buttons...it even came with a cute little dog that Devin LOVES! Then we went and looked at work books for Elizabeth for the summer, when we suspend weekly lessons(mostly) and just work on reviewing and not forgetting what we've learned so far. I wanted the workbooks to be something she can mostly do on her own so we got a couple really good first grade workbooks(not all workbooks are created equal!!) as next fall she'll be transitioning from first to second grade level work. My mom graciously got these for us as her contribution to Elizabeth's schooling, and Devin's book played classical music so it's educational right?! ;) We ate lunch in the car and drove down to West Jordan and walked through a model home of Ivory Home's Hannover model which is my dream home! And walking through it only solidified how much I love that floorplan!! Then we went over to Daybreak and wandered more model homes, it was lots of fun! Then in the afternoon we went and picked up Elizabeth who had some rough times with her Aunt Ketty, but overall had a fun time. We visiting for a while, then got some dinner at Robintino's in Bountiful, where she had a meltdown after finding out they don't have chocolate milk...Tony had to take her out, she was making such a scene(this is why we're taking her to the Children's Center, she has some seriously uncharacteristic behaviors lately) she was good the rest of the time though. After dinner we went to my grandparents house for a visit and had a really good time! Sunday church went pretty well...Devin struggled a bit but wasn't terrible. Devin did well in nursery and even stayed the whole time, though he was melting down when I got him(he doesn't like not being the first one picked up...but se la vi buddy!) Elizabeth was reported as being good in primary(other than freaking out when one of her ponytail braids fell out because the band broke). After church we headed back down to the Salt Lake area, Tony dropped me off at the Taylorsville insta care to get an infection that was killing me checked out, while he took the kids and went with the Nester's to visit his grandma in the care center. Then we went to his parents house for his mom's birthday party which was a good time! And that was the week!!
As for this past week....Monday was swimming lessons, Tony played with kids in the kiddie play area after and they had a good time. Elizabeth held her head under water for 5 seconds three times so Tony took her down the big water slide as a reward. Tuesday morning Devin had therapy with his child developmental specialist. That evening was dance/tumbling. Wednesday Devin had playgroup and this was the week that his true colors came out...big time!! He was on edge to begin with, so everything set him off, and he freaked out pretty much the entire time. It was exhausting! But now everyone really knows why he's there! That afternoon while cleaning up the explosion in Elizabeth's room the kids were playing under the bed(loft bed) and Devin fell and hit his head hard on the edge of Elizabeth's toy box...that one's gonna leave a scar! So I left Devin with my parents while I took Elizabeth to her last swimming lesson, which she rocked! She passed off everything expected in the class! YAY! At the end she got to go down the big slide with her teacher a couple times then got to play in the play area for a few minutes and even got a yummy treat! In the winter we'll sign her up for the next class up! Go Elizabeth!! Thursday was scouts and our two kiddos almost didn't make it...especially Elizabeth, she seriously struggled there towards the end...but we made it. Friday morning Devin had his Play Project therapy(she also leads his play group so she works on some of the things he struggled with on Wednesday) he did pretty well. Then I got us all packed up and ready to spend the weekend at Jordanelle in Park City. And about 2:30 the kids and I and my parents set out in the motor home. Elizabeth did great with the drive...Devin started looking terrible about a half hour in and about an hour in we learned Devin gets very carsick in the motorhome...poor little guy! He was a trooper! We got to our site and set up then it was over to the Tanger Outlets! We got lots of cute summer clothes for the kids and even some clothes for next fall and winter. After we were all shopped out we stopped by Papa Johns and picked up pizza for dinner. The kids were really excited to be sleeping in the motorhome so they took a while to go down. Saturday we went back to the Outlets to finish up our shopping, then we treated out parents to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays....MMMmmmmm such good food! Then we hit up just a couple more stores while my mom stayed in the car with a sleeping Devin and my dad took Elizabeth to play at the playground. Then we headed over to the Redrock(or something close to that) outdoor mall to look in a cool toy store they have there, we got the kids a cute frog kickball! Then it was back to the motorhome, we snacked and got the kids dinner, then put to bed then we had dinner and chatted. Sunday we just chilled, Tony took the kids to the playground for a while then we had lunch, then packed up and came back home. And that was this past week! You're all caught up with what's been going on with us!

Pictures from Elizabeth's swimming lessons...doing chop chop timber!