End of January thoughts

Excuse the inevitable typos, because I'm typing with hands that are numb and half frozen.  I just returned from a fantastic 5 1/2 mile walk outside through the fog and light misty rain. It felt so good to really push myself physically, and I had a good talk with a new friend while I walked.

Joseph asked the other day why I haven't updated our blog in awhile. Who knew that he reads it faithfully?  To be honest, not only has life been clipping along at a brisk pace, but there hasn't been anything really notable to document. I plan to upload some pictures from our Christmas trip to Florida, but it has taken me FOREVER to edit them. I took a lot of pictures because I was the only one with a camera.  Here are some random tidbits from our month before we begin February.

New Year's Eve Party . . . Not

Dan was the deejay for the stake youth dance on New Year's Eve, so he and the girls were gone all night (reportedly the dance was very fun).  Joseph and I debated different entertainment options, and were even invited over to hang out at a friend's house. However, what really sounded good to us was staying inside on a cold night and reading our respective books next to eachother in my bed! I love that Joseph has learned to love reading (right now he is reading the Lightning Thief and Heroes of Olympus series'). Whenever he sees me stretched out on the couch with a book he grabs his own book and cuddles next to me.

New Semester

We spent the first few weeks of January getting settled back into school after pulling the kids out for a full week before Christmas. We were so glad to have that time for our vacation, but despite our best efforts to be proactive it has been a painful catch-up time for several of the kids. Somehow, we all survived. 

Today is the first day of the second semester.  That means Aubrey is done with High School Health class and never ever has to be in another awkward health class discussion!  She is very relieved about that fact and has some pretty interesting stories to share about some of the things the students brought up. Things I'm not necessarily going to put on the blog, but ask her if you're interested. Let's just say that she goes to a school where kids feel very comfortable talking about anything and everything.  Which is generally a good thing.   

The vast appeal of English accents

This month I finally caught the Downton Abbey bug, after hearing about it from friends for years.  I don't love every single plot point, but I have fallen in love with the depiction of the era.  The characters, the costumes, the sense of history.  My new Downton Abbey diversion has made ironing 11 dress shirts a week much more bearable for me!

New Years Resolutions

I've also been getting back into exercise after being very lazy over the holidays (except for the fact that we walked over 9 miles a day at Disneyworld!). I wish I loved exercise more. My favorite type of exercise is walking outside, and I enjoy that immensely more when I have someone to talk to. Any other type of exercise requires superhuman effort for me to put away my list of excuses.  I have been doing a reasonably decent job dragging myself to the gym a few times a week as for an intense weights/interval training class. I hate every minute of it but I'm always proud of myself for doing it.  

Relief at the Pump

Gas prices - Wow!  I haven't seen gas this low in a decade.  Our prices are always higher than most of the country (I really don't know why that is the case, other than higher taxes . . .), but I got gas for $1.81 the other day which was a great feeling and left extra cash for the Starbucks hot cocoa I wanted.

The end of an era

In other news, I cleaned out the crayons/playdough/crafty area in a kitchen cabinet this last week and gave away our last coloring books.  I had to confront the fact that no one in our house plays with playdough or colors in coloring books any more.  So sad.

The same day I finally removed all the picture books from Joseph's shelf to make room for the Percy Jackson and Lost Hero books he loves. I have been taking away the  picture books in stages, but recently I realized that he really isn't going to open a picture book to read, no matter how wonderful the story or pictures. Most of the books have joined the many hundreds other books stuffed under every bed and in boxes in the garage.  I will have the best Grandma library someday.

This is how we spend our Friday nights

Joseph  has a basketball game every Friday evening at 6 pm, 7 pm, or 8 pm.  By 9 pm on Friday night Dan and I are walking dead, after running on early morning Seminary schedule all week.  Joseph just finished the first session of 4th grade basketball with the Boys and Girls Club and is starting the second session. This year he has really improved his defense, offense and dribbling skills! It has been so fun to watch him, and we always follow up the games with a trip to get McDonalds ice cream for Joseph and best friend/teammate Alex.

Vocabulary Fun

It's no secret to my family that I like big words. I read so many books as a child that I amassed a big vocabulary, although I didn't always know how to pronounce the words or use them correctly! This year in her pre-AP English class Aubrey had to find 10 challenging vocabulary words per week to analyze and define. I was excited to help her find big words and kept a running list on my phone when I heard or thought of a good word.  I know, I'm a nerd.  Here are some pages from her vocabulary notebook. She had to explain where she found each of the words.

(Commensurate - got it from mom (notice, my dad does not have as good of a vocab. That's probably where I get it from).

 Ubiquitous - my Mom uses it all. the. time.  (hee hee - it's true. Such a cool word).

Recipe failure and successes

Bailey and I have been trying to find new healthy recipes. Some have been great, others not so good. We should have known these "chocolate" black bean cookies would be nasty when the recipe suggested we reserve some of the whole black beans to "decorate" each cookie.  Seriously, who wants a whole black bean on a cookie as decoration? For that matter, who wants mashed up black beans inside a cookie? Not us, I can tell you.

I did find a recipe I love though, and it's my new go-to healthy snack. I roast chickpeas with olive oil, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, and other spices. The end result is kind of crunchy and spicy. Bailey and Dan think they taste like sawdust, but I think it's a yummy snack which keeps me full for a long time!

Siblings

I love this picture of Aubrey and Joseph after Joseph's basketball game in early January. Dan's face is saying "please, please let me go to sleep."

Huh?

I walked in one day to see the big Lovesac beanbag on top of Joseph? Do you see his feet sticking out like the Wicked Witch of the East when a house fell on her? Apparently he was bored and wanted to know what it would feel like to have a beanbag on his head.

Opening Sibling Gifts

I've been working backward through  my pictures in January, and I just noticed that we didn't open sibling gifts until January 2nd. ? The kids did a great job finding thoughtful gifts for each other.

I love the way Joseph is wiping Bailey's kiss off his face!

New 'dos for a New Year

Finally, the end of December both girls decided to make a big change and get a lot of hair cut off. They were excited about a change and happy with the results. A few weeks after these photos Bailey went back and paid to have some blond highlights added. Look at all the hair on the ground in this photo!

The picture of Aubrey shows her new haircut during a shopping trip later that day.

Christmas Eve and Day 2014

This year we celebrated Christmas on the 26th of December, which was the day after we arrived home from Florida. Yes, we flew home on Christmas Day because it was way cheaper that way. Flying on Christmas would have been a depressing prospect if not for the hours we were able to spend with the Ellefsens in the Kansas City airport during our long layover.

It was so incredibly nice of the Ellefsens to leave their Christmas festivities to hang out with weary travelers, and we are so glad they did! We tried to leave the airport to find food only to find that, duh, all restaurants are closed on Christmas so the workers can be home with their families.  So, we all went back to the airport and enjoyed a lunch in the airport restaurant.

These two cuties came all dressed up in their Christmas finery.  So fun!

So, it turns out I didn't get many other good pictures of the group. I think I was too busy talking.

While driving near the airport in Missouri we also saw that gas in the Midwest is $1 cheaper than our gas in the Pacific Northwest  Whaaaaat?  (That blurry picture says $1.92 a gallon, which is the cheapest I have seen gas in almost a decade.)

After leaving Kansas City we had another 4 hour flight to Portland, arriving late afternoon. Our home teacher and friend Dale McDonnell fetched us from the airport. Once home we went into full speed unpacking/clothes washing/Christmas Eve mode. 

One glitch in our plan . . . we hadn't thought through what we were going to eat for our "Christmas Eve" and "Christmas Day," and we were scrambling a bit when we realized that all grocery stores were closed. Luckily, we had a little milk which was still good, some frozen Rhodes cinnamon rolls to make for breakfast, and some assorted this and that for Christmas Eve dinner.  On our Christmas Day Dan ran to the store to get food so we could make broccoli soup.

Once everything was unpacked and put away we gathered in the living room to hear and act out the Christmas story, with Bailey playing the angel, Joseph playing Joseph, and Aubrey playing Mary. Then we opened Christmas Eve presents (pjs and Studio C shirts from Brandon and Angela) and Aubrey read our  new Christmas book to us.

 A photo shoot in the new sleepwear.

 Then it was off to bed. The kids set up their traditional sleepover in the bonus room. Normally they watch Christmas movies for hours on Christmas Eve, but I peeked in to take a picture of them shortly after they set up their beds, and they were all fast asleep. Our bodies were still on the Florida time zone, and it felt like 1 a.m.!

 My eyes popped open at 5 a.m. (8 a.m. Florida time), and I read my book until I heard the kids stirring. They didn't realize we were up, so they watched movies until 7 a.m.

 Then off to the tree to see if Santa visited!  A very sleepy Santa did visit the night before. He was so silly and mixed up several of the gifts. It had been a very long day for him!

 Santa always leaves very funny answers to their Santa letters.

What's in the stocking, Aubrey?   Joseph found Pokemon cards in his stocking.

Joseph tried on his new Christmas socks and Bailey received an external hard drive from Santa.

 WARM things for Bailey, because next year she will be attending college in a very cold place!

 New crossfit shoes for Dan and a new stuffed animal for Joseph.

 I love the way you wear that scarf, Aubrey!

 Bailey was mighty surprised when she unwrapped an iphone box. She was all smiles when she read the note and found the (used) iphone inside.  We did some research and found a way she can do a no contract prepaid cell plan which mostly uses wi-fi (very little data included). The cost is very reasonable, but with limits on texts and non-wi-fi data. She is fine with working with the parameters of the contract, and we feel better that she has a GPS for when she is driving.

And the moment when they spread out their fun surprises for a picture.

A few of the sweet cards Bailey gave to family members for Christmas.

 

Right after breakfast Joseph asked permission to spread out his new huge Lego set on the dining room table. 

And then he started building.

 And hours later he was still building.

 He didn't stop for anything, with only Christmas candy as sustenance.

5 hours later he had built the entire Lego set!

We had a very merry Christmas!

Miscellaneous December

We crammed an awful lot into the first two weeks of December, before leaving on a trip to Florida on December 14th. Here are a few more moments. . . .

Joseph did an awesome 4th grade project on a "classic toy." He was assigned Hot Wheels cars. He drew the picture himself (while looking at an actual  hot wheels car), drew a fiery border, wrote a nice essay, and created a graph. He finished it and turned it in a week early since we were missing the last week of school before the break.  Go Joseph!

Speaking of Joseph, he has discovered the immense appeal of Harry Potter. Hooray! It is so fun to share this beloved and magical world with another child. He has read nonstop throughout December and has finished the 4th Harry Potter book and is in the 2nd of the Percy Jackson series. Reading Harry Potter was very timely, as we had the chance to visit the Harry Potter lands in Florida.

Bailey and Joseph were my gingerbread house decorators this year, and they did a fabulous job decorating the pre-made Costco gingerbread house. I am sorry to say that we skipped sugar cookie decorating this year, for the first year ever. Something had to go!

We attended several service projects, including an evening wrapping presents for the homeless shelter with the rest of the youth in our ward. Lucky me - I get to serve with the young women again (this time with Beehives).

It is totally impossible to see what Bailey is holding in this picture so I'll tell you. I sent Bailey and Joseph around to deliver Christmas goodies (chocolate cookie sandwiches with peppermint frosting) to neighbors. Aubrey missed out on the deliveries because she had many late rehearsals and classes throughout December.

Speaking of Aubrey, I only have video, no pictures, of the vocal recital for her private vocal lessons (and I really should take the time to upload the video to the blog).  Dan and I were completely blown away at the maturity and clarity of her voice. I guess it's been awhile since we have heard her since a solo, other than singing in church. She sounded so beautiful and sang with confidence and artistry. Go Aubrey!

The picture below was taken during the evening we offered to babysit the 6 kids belonging to Joseph's football coach so he and his wife could go out to a movie.  We were really excited at the chance to hang out with 6 kids ages 8 and younger. We thought we were prepared. We were wrong. 

By the end of the night we could only whimper as we surveyed the total devastation throughout our entire house. Who knew that 5 kids running around (they took the baby with them) could make such a total mess and frazzle our nerves so completely. We were glad to do this service but I'm not sure we will be offering again!

An a final Bailey moment . . . . this is a picture taken at a meeting of the "Storm Buddies" group she started at her high school.  She arranges activities during lunchtime in which high schoolers interact with the Life Skills (special needs) kids at the school. She has made great friends with these wonderful kids, and they find her in the hall at school to tell her how excited they are about the next meeting. We are so proud of Bailey's compassion, enthusiasm, and leadership skills!  Go Bailey!