Our cases waiting for us to unpack them, on 11th April!
Ethan Cryer made us this lovely cake to welcome us back! I think Nanny Page had asked him to.
On Sunday 12th, Scott and I both had to be at church early for a Ward Council meeting with the Stake Presidency, as it was Ward Conference. I sat very painfully through the meeting and Sacrament meeting, then had to go home - my back just hurt too much. That was the last driving I did for a couple of weeks, it was too painful.
I spent the rest of April basically bending as little as possible! I lay down flat a lot the first week after America, and the only other position I could bear was standing. It wasn't much fun. The kitchen got quite clean, because I could clean appliances etc at waist height, but not much else! I did a lot of walking, and Harry had to get used to no car on the school run home. (We almost always walk in the mornings, but drive on the way home.)
I had to make a few cards for my craft companies, such as these on the 17th.
There was a Stake Youth Fireside on the 19th April, which I had to miss - I couldn't sit for the length of the car journey. I felt a bit bad because I was missing every Stake Youth activity this year right up to camp, for various reasons! Scott took Lucy, Jack and Tom.
On Monday 20th, I had to cancel Visiting Teaching Anna, because of the drive. For Family Home Evening later that day, I got the kids to plant up loads of different seeds. Scott wasn't there for some reason - he missed out on the huge mess we made in the dining room!
On 21st, I walked round to Michele Trickett-Smith's house after the school run, with card making kits for her to do. She is bed ridden, and we made a right pair! I just stood there the whole time, bossing her around on how to make the cards, and we had a right laugh for a couple of hours!
We had the dentist after school. Everyone's teeth OK.
The next few pictures I took all on 22nd April. They sum up what's been going on...
University prospectuses started arriving at the house! Lucy's been sending off for them, and it fills me with both happiness for her to be thinking about the next stage of her life, but also much sadness at the thought of her not being around every day. At the time, (I'm writing this in Bel-Air at the end of August!) Lucy was planning on doing Nursing at Nottingham uni. (At the moment, in August, she is thinking about going on a mission first, then doing Radiology at Leeds uni.)
Lucy in particular, and I, spent long hours continuing to paint the cabin. (I was OK as long as I didn't bend.) Lucy moved her desk in before it was finished, so that she could study for her upcoming AS Level exams in peace.
On the 22nd April, I was half-way through painting the floor. The wall with the windows in is not completely finished yet, but we just wanted to get the main things done so that Lucy could move in fully.
Another thing I worked on a lot in April was the kids' baby books. I got all the photos that I'd had printed out years ago, finally written about and stuck in, along with all the kids' certificates, invites, activities etc. They are now complete up to 2012! I then ordered all the photos for 2012.
Just a random photo of Lucy on 22nd April. Scott and I were hanging out in our room, and Lucy wandered in with some weights, texting someone, and just talking a load of highly amusing rubbish! We have such a good laugh! I love the humour in our home, and will deeply miss Lucy's contribution to that when she leaves.
At some point, I had decided I wanted to make entertaining easier in our home, and so ordered a new fridge. I decided we could make do with just using the chest freezer in the garage, and bought a large fridge with no freezer section from John Lewis. Our old fridge had lasted for about 15 years, and though not broken, was pretty ropey. I got Scott and Jack to get the old fridge out on 23rd April, ready for the new one being delivered on 24th.
Cleaning behind the fridge was a bit grim! Here's Scott admiring the collection of rubbish found underneath it!
The kids were not happy at first about a new fridge, because it would mean changes to our sticker/magnet collection on our old fridge. I had to carefully peel off some of the stickers and laminate them so they could be blue-tacked to the new fridge! The kids are happy enough now that we still have our 'I {heart} Liechtenstein' and 'Yuck, no kissing!' stickers!
Luckily the new fridge fits into the very tight gap that we have for it, and on Saturday 25th, a box I had ordered on Amazon arrived, for me to make a portable 'salad bar' with. (It was actually a stackable Christmas decoration box.) I wanted to make it easier to have salad, so came up with this idea to have it pre-prepared, and be able to get it out the fridge in a one-er. It works really well, so long as I remember to fill it up! The kids love it, and I will happily have salad for lunch every day. And fortunately we have a huge new fridge to fit it in!
I had a smear test on 28th, and went Visiting Teaching to March on 29th.
My back had improved a bit - enough to drive again, but was still sore all the time, and I had to be careful doing everything, so as not to bend it too much.
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