Winter Blahs

Last Saturday Steven went to his first stake dance. He had a bit of a cold and I hesitated to let him go but he really wanted to so I relented. I'm not sure why he wanted to go so bad since apparently he didn't dance AT ALL. But he does have good friends in the ward to hang with. I think he enjoyed himself. One of his friends who used to be in the Ward was there as well and he was pretty excited he got to see him and catch up. Apparently that friend was also anti dancing so it worked out. Here are some pics someone posted on the stake FB page...

This past week was mid-winter break for the local school district which meant no seminary. It was so nice to catch up on missed sleep and I feel more rested than I have in a long time. It is going to be a struggle to get back to it on Monday. I honestly did not miss it at all this week.

Monday after the kids finished their school work I took them to the mall in Auburn Hills. Steven needed new shoes and there is an outlet store for Under Armour there which sells the "cool" shoes he likes. Plus Penny needed new leggings and there are plenty of stores there for that. So I thought I would give them all $5 to buy a snack/treat, I would let the boys break off at some point and do their own thing, and we could get some shoes and leggings, and it would be a nice outing on a winter day. Well, I forgot the family cell phone so I couldn't let them break off, the outlet store didn't have any of the shoes Steven wanted in his size and the kids were so whiny about being tired I wasn't able to look at the stores I wanted to find leggings for Penny. Not even the money for treats made the outing better. That'll teach me for handing out money for no good reason. It was a very frustrating outing so I decided to treat myself to a pretzel on the way out in attempts to feel better.

Tuesday, even though I let Steven go to the Stake Dance and church that weekend, I kept him home from school. I didn't need them calling him out for a cough and then sending all my other children home too. He did very little school work while I cleaned the house and that irked me. I wish they would've given him gobs of make up work when I asked for it but they didn't. I don't want him to think skipping school is rewarding. After I finished cleaning I took Steven on round 2 of shoe shopping. Kohl's had had a sale that Monday on the shoes he liked but apparently it ended and nothing was on sale. So I paid full price for his fancy shoes which I wasn't super happy about but I guess he has shoes now.

Thursday I finally had all the kids in school so I took a lazy stroll through some stores to celebrate. I also picked up some art supplies because I decided I wanted to try getting back into painting. My first painting was just me experimenting with some things but I think it turned out pretty fun. 

Friday I had the Mays over for a couple hours and that was nice. I enjoyed catching up with Caroline and the kids had fun with their friends. I need to do this more to combat with the winter blahs I have been feeling. These Winter blahs have led me to plan a whole vacation out south. We'd do Savannah, GA then Jekyll Island, GA and then end with a few days in St Augustine, FL. I really want to make this vacation happen but a huge drive with gas prices potentially sky rocketing because of the awful things happening in Ukraine might not be wise. But then I think I only have 4 more years left with Steven before he leaves us so maybe we need to have these family vacations while we still can. I'm torn.

Saturday I took Ben and Steven to the Henry Ford Museum with Andrea and David. Seriously struggling with winter and having Steven inside and bored all the time so I needed to get him out. They didn't last super long but it was still a good outing. Andrea had lots of questions about different exhibits and I wish I was smarter and could've answered them all.

This week we finished the show we had been watching as a family- "Just Add Magic." It's been a fun one (even if Tyler always complains about the horrible acting) and I am sad we finished it. Yesterday we started up a new show "The Secret of Sulphur Springs." This is a little scarier and only has 2 seasons but it seems like it'll be a fun one for our family.

Valentines and Temple Visits

Saturday night I went to see "Hello Dolly" with my friend Caroline. As I was leaving to go, I told the kids I was going out. They were all shocked I wasn't going to see the play with dad. Penny said, "You're going on a date without dad!?" I said, "No, it's not a date. I'm going out with a girl." Penny then responds in shock, "You're gay!?" Oh, Penny. Way to jump to outlandish conclusions. The play itself turned out to be a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it and they had done really well with casting. Afterwards after much searching we found my seminary student (she was on the tech team) and said a quick hello and good job.

Sunday Ben taught his first lesson in young men's. He said he did great and everyone loved it. I am glad they have the youth teach. It gives them good experience and it also helps me to dive into Gospel topics a little deeper with the kids when I help them prepare their lessons.

Sunday evening we went to our first ever Super Bowl Party at the Eakins house. The food was really good and we watched like a whole 10 minutes of the actual Super Bowl- the half time show. I still was feeling a little off with my friends but it was mostly a good time. We did leave early because with seminary I have become a bit of a party pooper.

Monday Penny had an orthodontist appointment because she has a tiny mouth. The last time I was at this orthodontist was with Ben and I was cranky about the idea of paying for braces for him again so I was not the nicest to them. Well apparently they put those notes on my file because it felt like everyone was walking on eggshells with me and treading carefully. It was kind of nice, lol. Anyways the verdict was no work yet. If they do work it will be a lot because she needs a lot of extra space so another option on the table is pulling teeth to make space but for now they want to wait and see how things progress. I'm ok with that.

Monday was also Valentine's Day and Tyler got me the best bouquet ever and Steven put it together for me. I got Tyler a Samsung Galaxy Watch so now he's cool like me. Our Valentine's Date was a lunch date to Tropical Smoothie Cafe, we ate in the car, super romantic. The kids all got love gifts from me and Tyler. Lucy got a fashion sketchbook, Penny got a scribble scrubbie, Ben got a Super Mario Bros Lego Bee Power Up and Steven got a funny shirt. I also made them each a Valentine.

Also for Seminary that morning we played a Valentine's Game. We had short phrases for each of the OT Doctorinal Mastery's on hearts all around the room and they had to match the scripture reference with the phrase. They got extra points if they made the match while wearing this "cupid" outfit that Ben is modeling below (Depends diaper, Bow, Sparkly red hat and sparkly pink glasses). Only 2 of our students were willing to wear it ;)

Tuesday while the kids were in school I got on a cleaning kick and started cleaning out the kitchen shelves and changing out the shelf lining. Of course, right when I was finishing up I bumped a container of sprinkles that apparently wasn't shut correctly and little, round sprinkles bounced out EVERYWHERE. I was sooo frustrated. And now I am sure there are little, round sprinkles hiding on all my shelves.

Tuesday after school the boys got to go do Baptisms for the Dead. It was Ben's first time. They had a limit on how many people could come so I wasn't able to be there but I'll be able to go with him next month. He said that he enjoyed it and wanted to do more baptisms. I heard that he wasn't the most reverent and struggled with whispering. He was there with all his friends so I am not super surprised.

Wednesday I took Ben to the Eye Dr. He has been major complaining about his eyes hurting for weeks. I was pretty sure it was just dry eyes and had been giving = him eye drops when he complained but finally I decided I should just take him in and make sure it wasn't anything more serious. Well for $100 they confirmed it was just dry eyes. So expensive. The doctor did prescribe some eye ointment, that well kind of gross to apply, has been more effective than eye drops. She also gave some tips, like putting a humidifier by where he does his gaming. Seems like a good tip so I ordered a humidifier from Amazon. This kid is expensive.

Thursday morning we had the smallest Seminary Class ever- 4 kids. I don't know if there is something we should do about our dwindling numbers or if this is just how second semester goes. I do know we have several sick kids so there are some legit excuses. Next week they all have mid-winter break, no seminary, so I am hopeful everyone gets well rested and healthy over break and we have better numbers after.

Thursday as I was driving to drop off the kids at school, we got an alert that someone in Steven's class tested positive for Covid so unless he had been vacinated he was asked to stay home. Boo. He also had a runny nose and a slight cough so probably wise to keep him. That meant he got to join me in picking up groceries and running a few quick errands. Then he got to hang out home alone while I went to visit a friend and her new baby. Her and I chat when we see each other at church and church things but I wouldn't consider us close, we never hang out outside of church. However she had come to church Sunday without her baby and was real insistent I come meet her baby so I did. I still feel weird around babies but I feel like I did a good job faking adoration. Her mom was there and thanked me for being such a good friend to her daughter and that made me feel bad. Considering she had this baby in December and this was my first visit, I would not consider that a good friend.

After the visit I got another fun, school alert. Due to an impending winter storm we were to pick up our kids an hour early. I had been planning to go to IKEA and so that schedule change meant I needed to get on out there asap. Steven ended up coming with me and he was actually a pretty good shopping buddy. I had went to IKEA to get some pretty cereal bowls I had seen online. Unfortunately those bowls turned out to be itty bitty and not what I wanted. I had also wanted to get some new plastic plates for the kids but they were all out. We ended up just getting an ICEE and a pretzel at IKEA instead because we might as well enjoy some food on this unsuccessful outing. Then we went to a nearby Home Goods Store and I found the perfect blue and white bowls that I have been wanting. Perfect to replace our chipped, boring, white bowls.

When we finished up our shopping, it was time to pick up the rest of the kids from school. Steven and I had watched the weather change throughout it all. It went from rain, to slush, to hail, to snow. The roads froze up real fast and on the drive home we spent an extra 20 minutes on one intersection. It was the worst.

Thursday night with all the crazy weather we had a nice, night in. Extra benefit that Friday was declared a snow day so no seminary the next morning. We spent most of Friday inside and didn't venture out until Tyler and I had a temple date that evening with some friends. It was really nice to be there with my good friends and afterwards we got some food at Applebee's. I love the peace I feel at the temple and I love the good friends I have.

Steven's Birthday

So last Saturday I went to the Favorite Things party and got some neat things- the game Rummikub (the kids and I had fun playing it Sunday), some really yummy smelling soap (it came with a soap sleeve that helps it lather), really fancy mascara and a microwave popcorn maker, and a fancy beach towel (it's supposed to keep sand off real well). The party itself was alright, not quite my people. One lady kept boasting about how wonderful her teen boy is and then they were talking about marathons they've run. I guess I'm a Debbie Downer because I like to just complain about how hard my teen is and I think marathons sound terrible.

This week in seminary we had a lot of kids absent throughout the week so our class was pretty small. Tuesday morning I had the kids do Scattergories to talk about adjectives to describe people. It got pretty goofy. When we hit the T's someone listed "tasty" (awkward) and someone did "enough" for the E's and we had a pretty good laugh at how I was enough, even though I can't make Marvel Kahoot's correctly. After the fun Scattergories we talked about how we can be described as Abraham's seed and then I asked them what the 3 P's of the Abrahamic Covenant were and that got pretty silly too because there's a lot of super fun words that being with P. So even though we only had half our class, we still had a good time. 

Monday evening we had a really exciting outing to Costco with the girls. Tyler became Goldilocks again, trying out their small selection of office chairs. The girls had fun with that as well but after a bit got tired of it so I took them to go play with the computers they had out on display until their dad decided he had finally found the chair he wanted. I guess that chair you sit on all day for work is sort of a big deal. 

Tuesday evening was Bunco. I have been really feeling the effects of early morning seminary this week and it showed during Bunco when I thought 11 plus 9 equaled 21 and rang the bell at the head table. Oh my goodness is my brain lacking these days. I ended up not having the least amount of points but I did lose the most rounds so I got a Hydro Flask, I'm so cool now.

Wednesday afternoon I took Steven shopping for his birthday gifts. He was just being so undecisive about what to get so I thought I'd give him a budget and let him get into the store and see what he really wanted with that budget. It was a long shopping trip because making decisions is a struggle for him and at first he was leaning towards some pretty junky stuff but in the end I think he did alright. He got 2 switch games (Kirby Fighters 2, Star Valley), a Zelda case for his Nintendo Switch, Here to Slay card game (I don't know why he loves card games, he always ends up fighting with his brother when they play them), and a Nerf Gun. 

Wednesday evening the Deacons had an activity at our house playing with Lego's. Tyler got to monitor that one while I took Steven to the church for his Deacon's activity. Personally I just wish all the activities would be at the church, it would make things less complicated but alas, I'm not in charge. My friends were also at the church so I got to hang with them but I felt a little off with them that night. Melissa has had a lot of drama with yw's lately but it's because she finally tried to push back against the yw's president. I guess I feel annoyed that it took her 6 months to push back, at this point the program has become leader led and there isn't much unity. It depresses me. When I got back home with Steven the Deacons were still at our home and it was chaos. I am glad that I wasn't present for the whole thing.

Thursday was Steven's official birthday! I can't believe I have a 14 year old. I can't believe he starts high school next year. I can't believe in 4 years he'll be an adult and in just 2 he'll be driving. Time is a thief. We started out the day opening his gifts. Although he knew all the ones we got him, the ones from the grandparents were a surprise (Cards for Humanity (Family Edition), and a Lego Set).

While they were at school I did my taxes. This always gives me anxiety but it never takes as long as I think it will. Now I'm glad to be done with them and glad that will be getting a refund. I was worried with all the stimulus checks that the refund would be crap but it's still pretty dang good. We are finally accumulating a decent savings and that feels nice.

On our way home from school Thursday we stopped to get Steven a cake at Coldstone because that was his request but he was such a stinker about stopping before going home (because he wanted to play his new games) that I almost didn't want to get him the dang cake. In the end he chose ice cream cupcakes because he wanted a variety of flavors. It was nice to not have to worry about making a cake for him this year but it was also kind of sad to not have our traditional fun cake photo.

For dinner we went to Olive Garden since "white noodles" are Steven's favorite. I really do love the food at Olive Garden- the soup, the salad, the entrees, all totally bad for you but oh so yummy. Afterwards we were all super full so we decided we would just save all the cupcakes for Steven's friend party.

Friday Tyler took Steven and his 2 friends, Max and David, to do a Teen Night at a VR place in Pontiac. They ended up getting about 40 minutes of VR time plus pizza and pop for about the price it usually is to do 20 minutes of VR time so I would say we did good. Apparently VR time requires quite a bit of exercise so they were all exhausted but I think they had fun, it's realy hard to tell with teens. 

While they were out having birthday fun, I took the rest of the kids to church for our Ward Valentine's Party. They turned it into a Family History Night so it wasn't super thrilling for the kids but the food was good. It was a potluck and I was by far the coolest, bringing Little Caesar's pizza (which was so busy that it was quite a feat that I got pizza at all). The beginnings of these parties are always the worst. I just feel awkward and not sure what to do with myself. Then a nice family sat at my table and so I was able to feel less awkward and converse with someone. Later Melissa came with her family and we joked that we were going to trade daughters- I got her teen and she got Penny. Her teen started calling me Mother and calling her mom Melissa. At one point she said "give me a fist bump mother" and her mom went in for it and she said, "no, not you Melissa" and turned to me. Burn. There was also the comment that her dad made that he would be happy to have Penny in his family because she probably eats less food. He's not wrong. We're such weirdos but I truly love my young women, they totally don't mind how weird I am.

After the party and after the teens finished their VR time we met back up at the house for cupcakes. They were pretty good- whipcream frosting and chocolate cupcake cups.

Today, Saturday, the kids are all hanging out with various friends. Tonight I get to go see "Hello Dolly" with Caroline while Ben has a bunch of friends over to watch "Spiderman 2". I have a feeling the house is going to get all kinds of crazy so I'm pretty happy to get to escape although I am not sure I am too excited about this play. One of my seminary students helped make the props and is in the tech crew so I'm just going to be supportive. Hopefully it turns out to be a good one.

Snow Day

Monday I had a breaking point with school. The kids have been so awful- so much whining and complaining and fit throwing. Lucy literally melted down and kicked and screamed and said she hated me. So I did what I always do when I can't cope anymore, I came up with a behavior plan. Now every time they give me trouble or fight with each other they get a penny in their cup. They can't have screen time until they get rid of their pennies and to get rid of them they have to do a chore of my choice (and the chores they already do don't count). I feel like it's helped some. They do not like getting pennies and I can't complain too much about more tasks getting done around the house.

This week there was a huge snow storm coming and it seemed to be all that people talked about for days. On Wednesday it hit and I will admit I was somewhat disappointed. It didn't seem to be the snowmageddon that everyone had perdicted. There was snow for sure but it didn't feel like a massive amount (maybe 8 inches total in the end)and it was just lightly falling all day. On the plus side they did cancel school so we had no seminary and got to sleep in. For us the day went as normal since it was an at home day and then when we finished school I even braved the snowy roads and drove the girls to Target to get some Valentines for school. I only had a couple brake crunching moments that gave me some anxiety but overall the drive was fine. Am I becoming a Michigander after all?

Thursday was another snow day so once again no seminary and since it was a school day for the kids they had Zoom for all their classes instead. They were not happy about this because they wanted a true Snow Day. Ben was especially upset because Jacob had a Snow Day and he wanted to hang with him. Personally, I was glad they did Zoom because it kept them busy and so I was still able to get stuff done. I cleaned out the couch (which was so gross), I did a quick vacuum of my car, and I shoveled all the snow. Shoveling the snow was quite the workout. While I was shoveling a neighbor was walking by and we had a chat. We probably only talk once or twice a year and she is always really kind. This conversation was no different, she told me she was so glad my kids were spending time with Sharon and she could tell it was making a positive impact. And she proceeded to tell me that I was raising my kids right and that she was glad my family had moved into the neighborhood. Even though she doesn't know us well, it was still really nice to hear those things and honestly I was feeling pretty down on myself lately so that was just the bit of self esteem boost I needed.

While Ben was on a break from Zoom Thursday he made a goofy, little snowman...

Thursday night Tyler and I went on a date night. It had been awhile and I needed a night out with him. We went to Benstein Grille because we had been given a giftcard to it but of course, Tyler forgot to give them the giftcard. Anyways, it had fancy food and it was good but I filled up on the appetizer and didn't have much room left for the entree. After dinner we went to Staples so Tyler could try out office chairs, he is in need of a new one. I must be a grown up because I found sitting on a bunch of different chairs to be pretty fun. Then we ran a couple quick errands and headed home. It was just what I needed, although I was glad he was driving instead of me because the roads were gross.

Friday we decided to just cancel seminary again because we were worried about the roads but mostly because I didn't want to wake up. I'm terrible. We'll get back to it Monday. School was as per usual and then that evening Tyler and I went to watch one of our seminary student's basketball games. It was a really close game and they almost won but in the last 3 minutes the other team kept scoring points because of fouls. It was a good time but holy cow stadium seating is painful on the rear and I think I may need to find some cushions if we are going to make this a habit.

Saturday, today, the girls had their friends from school over and we probably should do that more often. The girls are sisters and they all get along super well. They played, drew pictures, made stuff with Perler Beads, went to the library and watched "Encanto". Tonight I get to go to "My Favorite Things" party. I got my favorite wristlet wallet and a Lego keychain as my gift. I am not sure how these will be received but I love both these things so hopefully people don't hate them. It's always interesting to see if I come back with things that I love since not everyone has the same interests and tastes. We shall see.