Heels & Hockey

This week was hard. I mean it was one extremely challenging week. Every single one of my kids tested boundaries and pushed buttons in one way or another and as this week comes to an end I am just grateful it is over. I am grateful that I can start a fresh new week. That we all get another chance to make better choices and be happier. And despite the frustrations of this week, I want you to know that I wouldn't have it any other way. I am lucky to be these kids' mom. I am lucky that they are challenging me and forcing me to grow. I am lucky that I get to be home with them and teach them how to be good people. More than lucky I am blessed. 

Pictured below is one of my stinkers from this week. One royal stinker who pressed all of Lucy's buttons, who ignored me constantly, who cried anytime something was "too hard", and who said naughty things and did naughty things just because he thought he was hilarious. BUT despite his evilness this week, he still managed to make me smile occasionally. Like that time when he chose to top off his outfit with his sister's high heels:

My other stinker of the week, pictured above with the first stinker, would arch her back in protest every time I had to buckle her in her car seat this week and then she would scream like a banshee for a good 15 minutes before finally giving up the struggle. I think she was trying to exorcise a demon from her soul, but really she was just exorcising my patience. She has also been anti-sleep this week which is not OK. She needs her nap. She is extremely cranky when she doesn't get one :(. But at least she has been very giving with "huggies" this week. And when she says "huggies" that means she wants to snuggle in my lap. I do love snuggles!

Onto my third stinker, Steven. Oh Steven. Ben got some stomach bug Wednesday night and spent the night throwing up. The next morning Steven decided he was "sick" too. I was pretty sure he was faking because he still ate his gummy vitamins and he pointed to his throat when I asked him where he felt sick and he seemed more concerned about getting some 7UP to drink and watching TV than anything else. So I told him he could stay home but he would have to stay in his room and relax and he would not get to watch TV. Surprisingly, he agreed to these conditions. Not surprisingly, after an hour of doing absolutely nothing in his room, he had a miraculous recovery. His recovery was just late enough though, that I had to drag all his siblings into the school to drop him off. I was not happy about that.

But at least he wasn't genuinely sick so he was still able to go with the Scouts and his dad and brother to a Hockey Game. I think I am safe to say they had a good time:

I wish I could say that Penny was my golden child this week but she wasn't. She decided to go back to fussy mode this week and has been having frequent moments of crankiness. She is determined to keep me on my toes I suppose. At least she is impressing us with her ability to read ;):

As you can see her and Benny were very excited to find 2 new Benny & Penny books at the library this week:

January Things

This week the temperatures were much better- mostly 20's & 30's! I am so much happier when we are in double digits people! And with warmer temperatures came my favorite kind of snow. The kind of snow where the flakes are big and you can actually see all their intricate details when they fall onto cool surfaces. The kind of snow that when it settles on the ground it looks fluffy and pretty. And I especially love the kind of snow that I DO NOT have to shovel because my husband is home. Yeah that's the best kind. Here's me and Lucy catching some flakes:

I know this may not seem monumental to some but this week Penelope got a bath. Since I can't throw her in the tub with all the other kids, she tends to be neglected. She loves bath time so I really should clean her up more often. And these pictures also show that she might be picking up a thumb sucking habit, just like her big brother Steven. 

I know, enough bath time pictures already! But she just looks so cute afterwards too:

Lucy's hair is driving me wild! It is completely hopeless these days. Her one side has thinned out so much that I really can't do pigtails with it. And when I leave it down she is constantly rubbing the back of her head on everything so that it all just sticks up every which way. So the other night we decided to just make use of what she does have and gave her sprout. Is it weird that I kind of love her hair like this?

Today was a good end to the week. I took the boys out on a date to the bakery in town and then we went to the library. The library happened to be having demolition slot car racing happening in the rec room so we joined in. The boys had fun pushing the lever and watching the cars run around the track and crash. Then after that fun we hit the books. We even got to look in the nonfiction section- a section I usually can't go to when the girls are in tow because it's too far from the play area. Here are the boys with their favorite finds from today:

Snowmen

Tyler left last Monday to work up North again. That week did not go quite as smoothly as the week before. The kids were less cooperative, less nice to one another and my temper was shorter but amazingly, we got through to Friday. On a positive note, at least I didn't have to shovel any snow.

The first day he was gone it was a bit warmer so I took my 3 little ones into town for some doughnuts. Penelope looked pretty adorable in her snowsuit:

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Benny sure likes his "sprinkler" doughnuts:

The next few days the temperatures dipped down into the digits that I have nothing but hatred for. Really, my van should not be allowed to display such numbers at 9am:

So the rest of the week we stayed inside and tried to keep warm. Lucy kept warm by jamming to a song that my sister-in-law, Mariah, sent to me on Voxer (the blurry hand is proof that jamming be happening):

Penelope kept warm by wiggling them legs and hands of hers and screeching away. She is sure enjoying figuring out what her hands and legs do and she is sure getting noisy. Love this girl to the moon and back. She has become so much happier and is now only waking up twice at night instead of 3 or 4 times. That's progress my friends!:

But even a wiggly 5 month old gets tired of wiggling eventually and needs to take a nap with her Sleeping Beauty:

After staying inside all week, the kids were ready to get outside by the time the weekend came. So their good daddy took them outside and helped them build some snowmen:

And of course, he had to build one too:

So glad that Tyler has no more trips up North until February. I sure miss that guy while he's away. 

On another note, I am no longer a Sunbeam teacher at church which makes me sad and relieved. I was looking forward to figuring out how to work with these little ones but they were truly exhausting. BUT I think my new calling will be just as exhausting and it technically still includes the Sunbeams. I am now first counselor in the Primary Presidency- gulp! I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. The other ladies are all older so I feel like a young thing. But I'm sure I will figure it all out because I definitely believe it was an inspired call.

And one last note, here's a fun conversation I had with Steven after school the other day:

Steven: I was quiet when I raised my hand so I got to move my clip up to green.

Me: That's good. I bet that made your teacher happy that you did that.

Steven: That's why I want to be a teacher when I grow up.

Me: Well....teachers don't make a lot of money. It might be hard to take care of a family if you're a teacher. You might have to have another job too.

Steven: I know, I'll just be a helper guy. If people need things fixed, I will fix them for them and then they will give me money.

Seems like he's got his future all figured out :)

Winter 2015

My first full week in 2015 was LONG! I started it off with my new Sunday School Class- the Sunbeams! No longer do I teach 7 and 8 year olds but now I teach super cute and super CrAzY 3 year olds! I have a co-teacher but she is in her last year of residency so she's a busy lady. I considered myself lucky when she came this Sunday but it was tough enough with her, I'm not sure if I'll survive when she can't come. Our Sunbeams are active and have the attention span of a gnat. No more long, interactive lessons for me. Now I go from activity to activity hoping that the kids retain at least one spiritual idea from the day. I think the change will do me good though and it'll be fun trying to come up with creative activities again.

Monday through Friday this week Tyler was up in Northern Michigan for his first week of Winter testing. Despite my extreme worries that I would not survive on my own with the 4 kids while he was away- I did! And things actually went pretty smoothly. I am so grateful for that!

However, I am not grateful that Winter decided to arrive while Tyler was away. Of course it couldn't come and give me my first ever white Christmas. Instead it waited until my husband left me so I would have to shovel my driveway. Have you seen my driveway people!? It's ridiculously long:

Going out there in 1 digit temperatures was not fun and it also taught me how out of shape I am. I was pretty achy (and still am) after shoveling that darn driveway. This is why I always make Tyler shovel it. He did after all agree to those conditions when we moved here- darn winter testing! 

Winter weather also meant bad driving conditions and I am just not good at driving on icy, snowy, slushy roads. I made sure the kids prayed we wouldn't get stuck and that we would drive safely each time we went out because I had no husband to rescue me. Gratefully my prayers were answered and even though my wheel sometimes caught on ice and started to steer me towards medians, we miraculously never crashed and arrived everywhere safely.

SO despite mean old winter things went well. We managed to find a good routine and the kids seemed to be better behaved than usual and they got along pretty well. As proof I offer this sweet card that Steven made for Ben at school:

  

"Ben I love you evreday win you are next to me" 

But by the time Friday arrived, we sure were happy to have Tyler back. That night I made him go run an errand for me and Lucy insisted on going along. She loves her daddy so much she's willing to bundle up and venture into the freezing cold temperatures with him. Doesn't she look adorable in my infinity scarf?

And Saturday we needed some family time. It was much too cold to do anything outside but it's never too cold for a museum so we headed to Ypsilanti to check out the Michigan Firehouse Museum. It was pretty small but the kids had fun seeing fire engines and fire gear from throughout the years. It also had an old firehouse to tour, a bunch of old antique toy firetrucks and a little play area for the kids.

Tyler and Penny got a little bored in the play area...

Steven needed a little push from his lil' sister

I think we all enjoyed getting out of the house and spending some time together especially since Tyler will be leaving up North again on Monday. Let's hope this next week goes just as smoothly!

Anniversary

This year we decided to break from our typical fancy dinner anniversary dates and do something a little more fun-- we went ice skating! I had never been before, basically because I am one big fat chicken who was too scared of embarrassing herself in front of strangers, but I figured we're in Michigan, the land of infinite outdoor skating rinks and it was time to get brave. Plus what could be more romantic than holding hands and ice skating!?

Well, for once I was right and it turned out to be a very romantic and fun date. We went to Campus Martius in downtown Detroit which is world famous! Ok, probably not but it is Michigan famous. Everyone who is anyone has been there. The rink is surrounded by old, tall buildings and there is a huge real Christmas tree at the front of it. Makes for a pretty scene while ice skating.

Tyler, of course, is an excellent skater and could have skated circles around me (plenty of little kids did) but instead he held my hand and kept me (for the most part) from falling down. It's true, I did fall down once. I started to get a bit confident, silly me and I almost took Tyler down with me. It was pretty ungraceful and pretty much the whole rink witnessed it BUT still fun. I don't think I'll ever be an ice skater extraordinaire but so worth the experience:

Here he is, being my Prince Charming, and helping tighten up my ice skates:

I think I am funny:

Tyler acting dignified in front of a nearby statue:

Afterwards we stopped by a diner that was recommended by a TV show so we figured it had to be a hit. I got dessert (a cookies doused in ice cream and hot fudge) and Tyler got linner (fish and chips) and the food got our thumbs up. Good stuff!

All in all it was a great anniversary date! 9 years down and an eternity left with this man. How lucky am I??

New Years Eve

The day before New Years was pretty uneventful. Lucy did however add some excitement to it by dressing herself in jeans, a dress and this colorful jacket and dancing around like a wild child:

We didn't have any plans for New Year's Eve so we enjoyed a nice night in. The boys played their own creative version of Chess, I put on "The Sound of Music", we got pizza from my favorite place and at 8:30pm we watched a pretend countdown on Netflix and drank some sparkling cider. It actually turned out to be a pretty perfect night. 

I would definitely say that 2014 was a year full of adventures. The adventure of living in a new state that has weather like nothing I've ever experienced before, a state overflowing with green and beauty, a state full of great places to explore and visit. The adventure of traveling to a new place to visit friends- Tennessee. The adventure of having a fourth baby away from all my Arizona family and friends and learning to adjust my life to fit her in. The adventure of meeting new friends here in Michigan and learning what life is like in a place where members of the church are fewer and more spread out. And all this adventure took place with a husband. A husband who previously worked 3 jobs and was going to school and was rarely home. A husband who now has no school, one job and is able to be home. 

Really this year has been amazing and I feel overwhelmingly blessed. I have 4 beautiful, healthy children, I have a roof over my head, my family has clothes that keep us warm, my husband has a job that he loves, we have cars that are paid off and get us to where we need to go....Life is good and I look forward to the adventures that 2015 will bring.

Detroit Historical Museum

This week not only was Steven off of school but Tyler was off of work. For the most part we were boring. We stayed home, slept in, played video games (Steven got Minecraft with a giftcard and is obsessed with it), watched movies, and were just plain lazy. But we did do one fun thing. On Tuesday we went to the Detroit Historical Museum. We weren't sure what to expect but it was free and you just can't beat free. And lucky for us it turned out to be lots of fun. And also lucky for us- we didn't get mugged or robbed or lose or van in ghetto Detroit ;) 

Here is Steven mixing up some music:  

Penny with her favorite doll, she enjoyed chilling at the museum too:

The boys watching a car being made in a mock assembly line:

Steven taking us out on a ride:

Tyler's driving, that's probably a safer idea:

This exhibit was like walking through the streets of Detroit throughout different eras. I think this store would have been a favorite of mine. Nothing over 10 cents!

An awesome model train with buttons that you could push to make things move:

Silly Lucy chilling in a chair and then taking over her sister's car seat:

The boys loved this exhibit, it involved them designing cars. Benny was actually able to design a car that worked before Steven or even Tyler- go Benny!

It was a fun little museum, glad we got out of the house, even if it was just for one day!