It's been a crazy week. With Mom trying to pack and working on the deck. I also had my piano recital (because I knew any later would cause even more chaos) and last week, Andrew got asked to go to Florida for a week. I also finally went to the Doctor for my back, and he said he thinks it's a herniated disc, but we are getting an MRI to confirm. We are starting out with Naproxen and Physical Therapy and then we will move up from there if those don't work, so unpacking has been kind of stressful. Karin has come by a few times to help unpack which definitely helped me get over the "this pile is to big to unpack" hill. Now for picture updates...

Nick came last weekend and added the stairs it's starting to shape up quite nicely and everyone is coming on Saturday for Mother's Day/Finish the deck day.

John brought fresh eggs over and the kids were so excited, so we made runny eggs for breakfast the next day.  I turned the burner off and walked to the office to take Andrew his eggs, and when I came back to the kitchen, I was greeted by an IKEA plate on the burner. SOMEONE was trying to cook...

 And here was what the culprit had to say...

 

Luckily once the burner cooled off, the plastic came right off. I live with mischief!

I held another successful recital, and it was actually quite nice to not have to drag all my recital stuff/refreshments/kids over. We were already here!  My students did great. I love my recital room!

 Ayana's Clogging recital isn't until the end of May, but it will be after Omi and Opi leave. Miss Nicole arranged for them to perform at a local nursing home, so Mom and I were able to go and watch her perform. They did a dance to the Flintsones, and then a kind of Mortal Combat mash-up Tribal dance.

I have been in so much pain with my back, that the doctor gave my some pain medication to take intermittently with the anti-inflammatory and the therapy. After I picked up James from school, I took one. I laid Michael down for nap, and just about the time my head started hazing up, I told James I was going to go upstairs and rest. He said he would turn off the TV when he was done and play. He walked up to the TV to show me that he could turn it off. But just as he got to the entertainment center, he slipped and smacked his chin right on the corner of the entertainment center. It was a "Oh, that's gonna need stitches" kind of head smack. I started to panic because I knew I couldn't drive while medicated. But upon investigation, it split his chin, but there was very little blood, and it didn't seem to be as deep as it should have been for how hard he hit. There were angels here!!  A cars band-aid and an ice pack seemed to do the trick. But he insisted I needed to stay there with him. How could I say no?

Every since Christmas and between working in the basement and moving, we needed the kids to be extra helpful. When they did extra hard jobs, we would give them a little money, but said that they needed to save it. We promised that after we move, we would go to IKEA. They were all so excited to pick something with their own money. Michael got a "BAM BAM" 

Did I mention this is the crazy one???

James saw a puppy that looked just like his big doggy that he got from IKEA a couple of years ago. He HAD to have it! He slept with it, he brought it down to breakfast, I think it would have gone to school if I didn't make him take it back upstairs.

And Ayana was so excited for a new art easel. She insisted it was not too late when we got home (at 8:30) to set it up. 

And last but certainly not least, we are moving along on the basement. Andrew finished the tile in the bathroom right before he left.

Yeah! One more thing to check off. We are nearing the end!

Lots more to come. This weekend, we have Natalie Fashion show for the DATC, Deck building day and Mother's Day. And then we have LOTS of stuff next week. Here's to hoping I remember my camera ;)