End of January

Our grocery buddies were busy on Monday, so I took Jack and Candy shopping with me.  They needed to play in the afternoon, so we walked to the park closest to our house to let them get their wiggles out.  Candy ran almost the whole way there and home again--she took a good nap that day!  Jack fell asleep on the way home.  It was warm and sunny and very nice.  Our kids loved FHE that night because Grandpa and Giagia had left us with some blue bell after family dinner last Sunday and that was our treat.
Tuesday I had joy school here in the morning.  It was all about the difference between rules and decisions (like it's a rule that we don't hit but it's a decision what color shirt to wear).  The kids liked it, especially because they got to make decisions at snack time.  Our toy room was a big mess when they arrived but I put those poor joy school kids to work--it took us like 25 minutes to clean up!  Tuesday night we went to the T's house for cake for Beckett's birthday.  The kids ran wild and it was fun.
Wednesday we had playgroup at the library.  We just went there for story time.  Jack and Candy had fun picking out books afterward.  I helped teach first aid basics for babysitting to the older activity days girls that afternoon.  They were pretty funny, one kept asking worst case scenario questions like, "but what if the kid falls and isn't breathing and has a concussion, then what do I do? "  Um, you call 911.  We reminded them that emergencies are rare when you are babysitting, thank goodness.
Thursday was joy school again.  The kid who said the prayer said he was thankful that the toy room wasn't very messy that day :).  Dan's sister picked Dan up from work Thursday so they could begin their drive to Utah in her car that she wants to sell there.  They drove all the way to Amarillo that night.  This was also the night of Carrie's softball game (I'm sure she filled you in on her broken ankle).
Friday was pretty open and I wanted to go see Carrie.  I dropped off little gifts with my visit teachees first.  My phone was ringing a lot from our siblings and Dad.  Shad said he and Amy were heading to the zoo and were also picking Carrie up from her appointment.  So I said I'd meet them there.  I parked at the zoo and then Shad called to see if I could just come pick up Amy and Molly and Ellie.  So we went to get them and Amy and I and the kids walked around the zoo for a few hours.  When Shad came to pick up his fam, I took Jack and Candy to Carrie's house to check in.  We stayed there for a bit and came home to pick up Megan and Brookie from school.  It was another warm and sunny day (in the low 70s), so we played at the park with friends after school and had dinner at chick fil a with 2 friends and their kids (there husbands were out of town too).  Dan and Ali made it to Bountiful around 8 pm that night.
Saturday we spent the morning cleaning up the house.  Then we went on a nice bike ride (it was almost hot--near 80!) and came home for naps.  We had babysit swap here that night with the Tracy kids.  Dan went to his Grandma's 90th birthday party in Salt Lake (the other reason for driving out there). 
It was a good Sunday today. After church, Ali's husband and her kids came over for dinner and they stayed with my kids while I picked up Dan from the airport.  It's good to have him home.

Sneaky boy on the counter this morning.  The black cylinder is an Amazon Echo (it's kind of like Siri and has a speaker, it was a Christmas present from Dan's parents).  Jack kept climbing up and turning the sound WAY up on our Sunday music.

Tired boy--note the marker all over his arms and the peanut butter all over his face.  This was on Monday after we got home from grocery shopping.

The kiddos all dressed for church this morning.

Jack testing out our little bassinet/rocker thing we got for baby sister. Also before church.

Here I am this morning--34 weeks (6 weeks til my due date)

MLK day

Last Monday was MLK day.  We did a quick and early grocery swap.  Dan had work, but the kids were off school, so I went with Dan's sister, Ashley, and another friend, Colette and all our kids (15 kids between us) to Sylvan Beach.  It's farther up the coast than Galveston, just through La Porte, and it's only 35 minutes from my house.  I was worried we'd be too cold to make it worth it (it was in the 40s in the morning), but it was a beautiful, sunny day.  It was probably about 55 and breezy, but the kids had a blast playing in the sand.  We'd been there an hour or so when all my 4 kids were begging for their swimsuits.  So I changed them and they waded and had a great time.  It was cold enough that no one really wanted to swim, but they had fun playing in the sand and wading.  We saw 2 sister missionaries walking up the beach, and i went and said Hi to them.  When I showed the kids, they all came screaming "Hi Sisters!" and running up the beach after them.  It was their P-day and transfer day and one of the sisters was going home the next day, so they'd come to the beach to take some pictures.  They took a few with all the kids before continuing on.  We stayed for a few hours and came home for dinner and family night.  

Tuesday I had my 32 week appt.  Baby girl is doing great.  After school I watched 2 of the Tracy girls for a bit and Megan had piano. 

Wednesday we had playgroup at a park in Fall Creek.  It was sunny and about 60.  I had a van-full when I pulled up, my 2 little ones plus cousin Luke, 2 of Ashley's kids, and another friend's son (that's 6 kids total).  The kids had a blast.  Ali and Ashley helped with my other kids in the afternoon while I took Megan to her ENT appt.  Her ear tube was no longer in place, so the doc pulled it out.  And then she did a hearing screen--STILL didn't quite pass on the left side.  She's had a cough and cold and fluid in that ear, so the dr. wanted us to do antibiotics for 10 days and come back in 2 months to see where she's at.  If she still has fluid, we'll probably do tubes again-boo.  This was a new doc and I liked her a lot.  We discussed other possible causes for her hearing loss and she mentioned that if the ear tube doesn't help with her hearing, that possibly the little bones that transmit sound are too stiff.  If that is the case, she may have surgery someday to replace those bones.  But her hearing would need to be much worse than it is now to make it worth it, so for now we'll just keep a close eye on things.

Thursday while Candy was at Joy School I did a lot of cleaning and a few errands.  It was a nice, quiet day.  We had cousins over after school to play for a bit. 

My lunch date on Thursday:

Friday we had an open day, so I took Candy and Jack to Ikea so I could buy another barstool for our kitchen.  They had fun wandering around and we had lunch there.  Dan had a campout that night (he finished his Wood badge certification, wahoo!), so the kids and I had some Little Caesar's pizza and watched a movie.  Dan didn't have to stay the night, so he was home a little before 11 pm. 

Testing a bed at Ikea...

Saturday was fairly quiet.  Dan took Brooke on a Daddy date (to get his tires rotated), Megan had a birthday party to go to, and the rest of us just hung out at home. 

It was a nice Sunday today.  Dan had early meetings, so we met up with him at our sacrament meeting.  It was ward conference and we got a new Bishop.  It's been a little over 5 years since our ward was created and we have had the same bishop all that time.  The new one will do great.  I'm good friends with his wife and they have 3 kids that we've done joy school and lots of playdates with.  After church we finished things up for dinner.  It was my night to host family dinner and everyone was able to come.  It was so fun to see everyone.  Shad and Amy had to leave first b/c Zach has Priesthood Preview tonight (crazy!), but we had fun playing games and chatting with Dad and Sally and Carrie.   They all left just before 7 and we got our kids to bed after scriptures and prayers. 

Jack is obsessed with being read to lately.  This is from Jan. 19

January halfway

We've had a good week. 

Monday was our usual grocery swap and family night and all of that. 

Tuesday while Candy was at Joy School I had a dentist appt--no cavities, yay!  Megan had piano that afternoon.  She's improving--she is really enjoying it now. 

Wednesday we went to Jumpalooza (a blow up jumping toys place) for playgroup.  Jack and Candy had a blast.  With Candy's help, Jack even went on the biggest slide there--probably 25 feet tall!  It was adorable.  The afternoon was SO nice, so we met cousins at the park for a quick playdate until Megan had A-Days and they made purses out of an old t-shirt.  She got to help with the sewing and was pretty proud of herself.  She was also proud that she did all the cutting out and didn't injure herself (another girl cut her finger).

Thursday I had the 2 year old playschool at my house while Candy was at joy school.  I got laundry folded and picked up the upstairs while they played.  Jack did a better job of sharing than last time and the kids were good. 

Friday was a beautiful day, in the mid 60s so I took Candy and Jack to the zoo in the morning for a few hours.  It was so much fun.  Perfect weather and Candy and Jack were so happy to be there.  I laugh everytime we go because my kids are always more excited to climb all over the statues of the animals than to look at the real ones that are right in front of them.  

 

We got to go to the temple on Friday night.  We hadn't been since November, so it was good to be back!  Our session was packed, they brought in folding chairs to accommodate extra people. 

Saturday was busy.  Dan was at the church all morning with Megan while 3 wards had child of record baptisms.  It was supposed to take only an hour, but there were some issues and he was gone for like 3 1/2 hours.  Megan's friend in the ward got baptized ans she was excited for her.  Candy and Brooke had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon.  We got a redbox to watch with the kids Saturday night (a live action peter pan prequel), so we had egg-in-the-hole and smoothies and had a picnic on the floor in the family room.  The kids loved it. 

Church was nice today.  We had a family speak, the parents and their 12 year old and their 8 year old.  They talked about blessings that come from the scriptures.  We had Jenn and Chris Roundy over for dinner.  It was fun to get caught up and play games with them.  Our kids love them.  Jack was Chris's helper while we played Uno and every time Jack got to lay down a card he just grinned from ear to ear, so proud to be playing the game with everyone. 

Back to School

Last Monday was the kids last day off for Christmas break.  But it was still a Monday and I needed to get groceries and fold laundry and the like.  So we did grocery swap with the T's and it was fun and crazy to have all 9 kids.  They had a blast though and played nicely, so it made the day go quickly.  For family night we talked about goal setting and as is out tradition, we each set 3 goals and we set 3 goals as a family for the year.  I love the fresh start of a new year. 

The only pic I found from this week--my 4 kids and the 5 T kids at lunch Monday...

Tuesday I taught joy school here and it was fun.  It was also about setting goals and the kids were cracking me up with the goals they wanted to accomplish.  My favorite was Candy saying she wanted to learn to wash our cars.  But they needed goals they could work on at school, so she changed to learning to write her name :).  During quiet time that day I worked on making pillow covers for Dad and Sally's new couches.  A fun and easy project once I got things figured out.  Megan had piano that afternoon and then Dan had a meeting that night, so I was able to get 3 pillows done.

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Wednesday was rainy and cold and we had playgroup inside at the mall.  The kids had fun running around and we ate our sack lunches in the food court which made it more fun.  I did the last two pillows during quiet time that day. 

Thursday was joy school here again.  Jack got to go to his 2 year old playgroup and was so funny trying to tell me all about it with his limited phrases.  He mostly said "I play Bode's house" and "doggy Bode's house" because his friend has a little dog.  At dinner most nights we go around and everyone says their favorite part of the day--Jack LOVES to participate now.  We only understand him about half the time but he is very enthusiastic.  There was a RS activity Thursday night about fitness and healthy eating, so we did zumba and a bunch of squats--the zumba was fine, but I was SO sore over the weekend from the squats.  It was fun.

Friday we ran errands and after lunch Jack and Candy went to play at Ali's house while I organized the garage and moved the bikes out of our study into the garage--YAY!  Megan had her belated birthday sleepover with Aunt Carrie that night while the rest of us just hung out at home.

Saturday morning we were busy with yard work, weeding and mulching our front beds and snaking out the drain on the side of the house.  We've had a lot of rain lately and it was NOT draining quickly at all and keeping the yard all soggy.  We got out a big clump of pine needles and then it was working again.  Saturday after quiet time we headed to Dad and Sally's to watch the Texans in the playoffs.  They did NOT do well but we had fun having pizza and hanging out (Carrie and Shad and all the kids but Zach were there too--Amy and Zach were at his bball game). 

Yesterday was a harder morning before church but MUCH better time at church with the kids.  Dan was speaking in another ward.  The guy that spoke in our ward talked about a few years ago when he and his wife set a goal to attend the temple each week.  They accomplished it and he talked about the way being in the temple changed them over time--that suddenly he was more sensitive to songs or movies that in the past hadn't bothered him but that he stopped watching or listening to because he was more aware.  We had a quiet afternoon after church and had Ali and her fam over after dinner to let the kids play and played settlers with the adults. 

Welcome 2016!

We've had another fun week off of work and school.  Monday we got the house picked up some and let the kids nap and then headed out for a sleepover at Dad and Sallly's.  It was a great time.  When we got there, Dad kept the kids busy playing uno with him so Dan and I could finish the new Mission Impossible movie in the media room.  Dad was mostly concerned with how his projector compared to Shad's.  Haha, we assured him that his was better.  We had a nice dinner with Dad, Sally, and Charlie and then the kids played and watched Frosty the Snowman and we put them to bed around 8.  Megan and Brooke fell asleep pretty quickly.  Jack and Candy were little stinkers.  Especially Jack.  So around 9 pm, we brought him out to the game room where he watched the train go around the Christmas tree.  We put a pillow by him and he laid his head down.  Then a blanket.  And after about 20 minutes of watching it go around and around, he was out. 

We played 5 crowns and Canadian salad with Dad and Sally and went to bed around 11.  

Tuesday morning Dec. 29 was cold (in the 50s) and we walked to the park by their house to let the kids play.  Then Dad and Sally treated us to lunch and we came home.  Dan went to buy lumber for my Christmas present from him--more storage in the attic!  That night we went to the T's house for cake and ice cream for Maddie's 7th birthday.  

The picture above is my new storage.  Dan and Beckett spent 5 hours Wednesday Dec. 30 nailing down plywood boards to give us an extra 10 foot by 11 foot space.  It's so nice!

Thursday was New Year's Eve.  Our kids have been so tired all week!  Jack passed out in the morning on the couch. I had my 30 week checkup for this baby--she's doing great!

After lunch we took the kids ice skating and the T's met us there.  The 6 older kids skated.  Jack and I didn't skate, and the T's 2 year old and baby and Beckett didn't skate.  It was so fun to watch our girls.  One of Brooke's resolutions last year was to learn to ice skate, so we barely squeezed it in--and she did awesome.  Megan took a bit to warm up but she did well too.  Candy used a little ice walker thing and she had fun with that but would do one lap at a time and then take a break for a while before going again.  

Candy-4, Kenzie-5, Megan T-8, Megan A-8, Maddie-7, Brooke-6, Mallory-2, and Jack-2

We got home from ice skating around 4 and had Ali's fam over for dinner and playing.  They left around 6:30 and we headed to the T's to watch the fireworks in their culdesac and have root beer floats and let the kids bang pots and pans and the like.  It was cold and even rained pretty good for part of the fireworks show.  We headed home just before 9 to put the kids to bed.  Dan picked up Shad's fam from the airport and he watched a bowl game while I fell asleep!  It was the first year in a few years that we didn't make it to midnight.  

Use your imagination to fill in the noise here.  7 crazy excited girls banging pots and pans and blowing noisemakers and yelling to their hearts' content.

Friday New Year's day was spent taking down Christmas and moving things into our new storage space.  We got a lot done and there's still a little to go.  Dan took the kids to Ali's while I caught up on the house and then we had dinner with Ali's fam. 

Saturday Jan. 2 we ran errands in the morning and let the kids nap in the afternoon before heading to Shad's for dinner.  We were there from like 4 to 7 and watched BYU basketball and I took the little girls in the hot tub.  Very nice time together. 

Jan. 3 was a nice Sunday.  Dan had an early meeting but was done in time to come home and help get everyone ready.  It felt strange to have an extra 2 hours before church.  We moved from the 9 am slot to 11 am.  Not my favorite time, but it's better than 1!  We got to church and Dan was asked to bless the sacrament.  Which meant that one of our kids was bound to melt down.  Today it was Brooke and it was pretty bad, I had to take her to the car for about 10 minutes before we were both composed enough to go back!  I was thankful for Dan's sister helping with our other kids while I was with her.  One testimony I did get to hear was from Candy's outgoing sunbeam teacher.  She mentioned each child and what she learned from them and for Candy said she learned to just be happy all the time.  It reminded me of things people have said about my Mom and I was really touched by that.  I hope my little Candy is like her namesake in many ways. 

The kids went to their new classes and did pretty well.  Candy was a little nervous partway through and came to me crying, but she went back to class and did ok.  Jack was a champ.  Brooke was teary at dropoffs but had fun.  Megan did great.  My class of 8 year olds were really good.  They were all kids I taught in nursery 7 years ago, and it's fun to see how they've grown.  I think I'm going to like teaching them.

Christmas Week Part 2

We left Ali's house around 8 pm and the kids opened their pjs from us.  We took a few pics and sent them to bed by 8:30...

We have some pretty great kids.  Jack-2, Candy-4, Brooke-6, Megan-8

I had all my wrapping done early this year, so I was excited to relax and enjoy It's a Wonderful Life.  But then we realized our Skype was not working and Dan spent an hour and a half troubleshooting.  He fixed all the problems so we would be ready to skype with my brother in the Czech Republic on Christmas morning.  We went to bed around 10:30.  Here's the room all ready to go for the morning.

We put up the baby gate to keep the kids upstairs.  We told them they weren't allowed to do anything before 6. At 6:01, Megan and Brooke went into Candy and Jack's room to tell us on the monitor that they were awake.  They were SO excited!

 Stockings...

All of us before we started opening.  The big box in front of the TV was a climbing toy for the backyard--that was their big gift from us.  Santa brought a fitness tracker for Megan (she's been getting over 25000 steps each day), a magnatile building set for Brooke, an American Girl type doll for Candy, and a tool bench for Jack.  All of those have been big hits.  Our kids are at such a fun age. They all fully believe in the magic and they are still easy to please--they each got just what they wanted. 

We opened presents for about 2 hours with a break halfway through to play with stuff that had already been opened.  We started making a big breakfast (complete with OJ, Egg Nog, and Chocolate Milk) when Tyler called in!  Hi!  Technology rocks.  Here we all are, in 5 different locations, all talking and listening and on video.

After talking to Tyler, I finished making walnut rolls and we headed to Shad's.  We got there around 12:30.  This is the only pic I took, but we played, saw their presents (Carrie came too), ate lots of good food, and watched a movie.  We left there around 3:30. 

We had Christmas dinner with the T fam, Ali's fam, and another fam.  We are good friends with all of them and it was so fun.  8 adults and 15 kids.  More yummy food and chatting and playing.  Dinner was at 5 pm and we left just before 8 to take our tired kids home. 

Saturday was rainy but still muggy and warm.  Dan got the climbing toy set up and the girls LOVE it.  Dad came for a quick visit and helped with the setup too. 

All in all, a fantastic Christmas.  We just felt so very thankful for the many blessings we enjoy.

Sunday was nice too, a pretty quiet day and my last day in nursery--I'm teaching the 8 year olds now (Megan's age but not her class).

Christmas Week part 1

Christmas week was great.  Fun and busy and a good time.

Monday Dec. 21, the kids played with cousins while I grocery shopped.  I got all the food bought for all the festivities.  And when Dan got home that night, I ran and bought his gift so then I was done!

Tues. Dec. 22 we played with my friend Kat and her kids in the morning. 

After lunch with her, we went to Dan's office to see the Christmas decor there.  Amazing and huge trees--two of them were Lego trees (the green one and the red/yellow one).  The red and yellow one was filled with 20000 mini-figures!

Wed. Dec. 23 we went to the zoo with cousins.  It was WARM!  Like 82 degrees and super muggy.  We had fun and headed home after lunch.

We did Christmas Eve-Eve with my Dad and Stepmom this year because that worked best for everyone.  We arrived at 5 and had a delicious dinner--shrimp and prime rib and salad and rolls, the usual deliciousness. We headed upstairs to the game room to chat and play and the kids acted out the nativity.  Jack was pretty funny, he was Joseph and Shad was the donkey and Jack kept pushing Shad's rear to keep that donkey moving.  It was a lot of fun.  Dad and Sally opened their gifts from Jamie and I which were some decorations for the media room. 

After Santa's visit, we put the kids to bed in the bunk room and chatted before heading home around 10 pm.  A fun-filled night.

On Christmas Eve morning, we went to our friend's annual breakfast potluck.  Very yummy and fun.  And then Dan took our kids to the store to get me a gift from them :).  We had a quiet afternoon and then went to his Ali's house with 2 other families for Christmas Eve dinner. 

Our kids and Ali's exchanged gifts before dinner..

We did the nativity again.  Brooke was an angel, Jack a shepherd.

Candy was the star and Megan was Mary...

Pretty cute crew.  The star was my favorite :)

Twas the week before Christmas...

We had a great week before Christmas. 

No more sickies at my house and we've had lots of friends over.

Monday night we got invited to a posada--a traditional Mexican tamale dinner, pinata, and nativity reenactment at a friend in the ward's house.  There were like 60 people there, a million kids, and it was a blast.  Delicious food and adorable nativity put on by the kids. 

Tuesday I got to sub for Ashley (we got her kids sick--woops!) as Candy's joy school class went to two nursing homes and acted out the nativity and sang a few songs.  Candy was the angel and she was adorable.  Jack got to be a shepherd and he was killing it in his glasses and turban.  The old people loved it and I loved being there with them for those minutes.  The kids handed out sparkly snowflake ornaments to the audience after they finished and they were so sweet making sure everyone got one and thanking people for coming.  I loved it.  I watched a friend's kid that afternoon while they packed up to move and got to go to a book exchange that night with my book club.

Wednesday was rainy and cool so we had playgroup at my house.  Lots of kids and lots of fun.  I watched kids for 2 of my friends that morning and got to know a few of the newer sisters in the ward and had a good time.  That night Megan got to go to a carnival at the church.  The cub scouts put it on as a service for the A-days girls. They played ring toss and washer toss and a few other games.  She loved it.  Dan's sister is one of the leaders so she had cousins there along with friends.

Thursday I watched another friend's kids while she was at the doctor and got some Christmas shopping done in the afternoon while Dan's sister watched Candy and Jack.  Then I watched ANOTHER friend's kids that night while they went to a work party.

Friday morning I dropped Candy and Jack off with a friend while I went to the school for the winter parties.  I ran the party in Megan's class and it went really well--I didn't have to plan it, I just had to show up and set things up. I think the kids had fun.  We played a dreidle game, they made cards for an assisted living center, and they had snacks and did a craft.  Ali helped out at the party too since Alonzo is also in Megan's class.  After the party I checked Megan and Brooke out (it was early release at noon and we got out a few minutes early) and we picked up the little kids and went to the T's house to make graham cracker houses.  I used all the tricks I learned from my Mom and hot-glued the houses together and made her frosting cement.  The kids had so much fun decorating and eating candy.  I had fun chatting with Ashley and our other friend who came.  It was a great afternoon.  Megan played "Deck the Halls" in her piano recital that night.  She has improved a lot this year and was much more relaxed this time playing her song--she had it memorized and didn't make a mistake!

Saturday while Dan went to a song practice, I took the kids Christmas shopping for each other--always a good time.  I would leave one on an aisle while the others picked gifts and then I kept the gifts covered with a robe from the clothes section while we switched.  I took the kids home and went visiting teaching (Dan took them to a birthday party).  We had friends over to watch the BYU v. Utah bowl game.  A dismal game really, but fun to be with our friends.  We only lost by 7, but they scored 35 points on us in the first quarter, all of those on turnovers or dumb mistakes--kinda put a damper on the game.  We had our ward Christmas party that night--a pancake dinner and the primary kids sang a few songs.

Today was our Christmas music program at sacrament meeting.  Dan and I both sang in small group numbers and the ward choir and primary did songs too.  It was really nice. After dinner we drove to the temple grounds to walk around with the kids.  Then we drove through a neighborhood right by the temple that does a TON of Christmas lights.  A bunch of cul-de-sacs with themes and even a house with the cool LED lights that played in time to music on a radio frequency they had posted on the lawn.  We took cookies around to friends after that and then put the kids to bed.  Christmas is such a fun time!

Candy houses on Friday...

At her recital...

Jack enjoyed the refreshments after the piano playing...

After church today...

At the temple...