Ice Ice Baby

On Sunday I got to sit with my primary class. The boys in the class definitely like to be the "peanut gallery" but the class is small (only 7 kids) and there was only 20 minutes for the lesson so it should be a really easy calling. I will finally be teaching the lesson this coming Sunday so we shall see if it really is as easy as I think it will be ;)

On Monday I took Lucy to Grace's to get her hair cut and it looks so much better. It had been looking pretty rough for a bit- the Great Clips trim we had last month was really not that great. I love Lucy's pixie hair but man the up keep is annoying. 

That afternoon Steven took his road test and he did not pass. Tyler went with him (because they have to have an insured adult in the car for it) and he said that Steven was not doing well changing lanes- he was taking risks and scaring the tester. He is not a good lane changer so that wasn't too surprising but risk taking is usually not his thing. Tyler thinks it was part of Steven's nerves. We have it rescheduled for this coming Wednesday so here's hoping he passes this time because each test is $80. 

Tuesday all the kids were supposed to be in school but thanks to icy roads, school was cancelled for all my kids. I was so looking forward to finally having the youngers in school and getting stuff done but no such luck. Instead the younger 3 were home doing zoom classes and Steven was home bugging everyone. The kids had been wanting to go to a movie for awhile and since Tuesday is cheap day I decided to take them to go see "Migration" after they finished their zoom classes. Steven was not interested in going so he stayed home and watched Ruby. Tyler was working from home too that day so he was there to help watch as well. The movie was nothing spectacular but it was fun and we all enjoyed it. 

Wednesday Steven had another snow day thanks to icy roads. It sort of worked out though because all the kids had a dentist appointment early afternoon. Him being home meant that I didn't have to worry about picking him up early from school. At the dentist we keep getting a hygenist who is extra friendly and "just loves" our big family. She was actually perfect for Penny because she managed to help Penny get a loose tooth out that was just hanging by a thread. She was sad but then the hygenist spoiled her with extra prizes and I think that helped make everything better. 

Thursday everyone was finally in school! It was a joyous miracle. The only bummer is that Ruby's nap times coincide with drop offs and pick ups so that complicated my life. For now she can do a car nap but thos make for short naps. Despite that Ruby and I enjoyed our quiet day at home. I cleaned out the girl's room- it desperately needed cleaning. I took a load of crap to Salvation Army. And just enjoyed getting things done with only 1 baby at home. It really tempts means to put them all back into public school because I really like my quiet, productive days. 

Friday Penny had her first orthodontist appointment. They are getting things ready for an expander. They put rubberbands around her molars and this made her very upset. She burst out in tears the minute we stepped outside of the place. I do not know how we are going to survive getting the actual expander in and later braces. Everything is so extra upsetting for her. 

Saturday the girls had a volleyball clinic. They are both starting this next season of volleyball. While the girls were there, I went with Mariah and Jessie to get my nails done. She was so nice to treat  me as part of her early birthday celebration. We had a good time hanging out and now my nails look extra fancy. Although my accent nail sort of looks like they forgot to paint it...she didn't quite do it like I had wanted but still fun.

This week Ruby has tried a few new foods. She gnawed on a whole apple slice, bananas, some teether biscuits, ate some "oatmeal" and applesauce. She did not like the applesauce, she gagged on it and the kids all thought her facial reactions were funny. She loves bananas A LOT. And she really seems to like the oatmeal. 

Temple Night

On Sunday I was all prepared to start my journey back into Primary but apparently they didn't need me yet. They had a few teachers gone (due to crummy roads) and so the Presidency decided just to combine and teach it. They told me to go to Relief Society so off I went. Ruby napped the whole time so that was nice but it also made my arms tired. I told them I could teach next Sunday but someone else is so....who knows when I will actually do this calling.

Monday was MLK day so everyone was home. It was cold and I had a dentist appt in the afternoon so we really didn't have any plans. Tyler took Steven driving in the morning to get him prepped for his driver's test which is next week. Steven drove to Mariah's and gave Maverick a cute little onesie we had gotten him. Steven apparently did well driving on the snowy roads. And we got some cute pics of them with Maverick.

Monday afternoon I had my dentist appointment for a root canal. It was awful. They numbed me and started to drill and I could still feel it. Ouch. So they numbed me again but this time it was so much numbing I literally couldn't blink my eye on autopilot. I had to manually close my eye and it just kept drying out. It was so uncomfortable. But at least my mouth did not feel a blessed thing. It was so numb and fat. The drive home was tricky. I had to hold an eye closed while driving. I felt pretty crappy and was not a very nice mom for the rest of the night.

Tuesday was Wesley's 2nd birthday so we all went over to celebrate that night. It was fun to see the size comparison between Maverick and Ruby. Ruby is massive. Ruby also seemed to have no idea that Maverick was a real live human being. She probably thought he was just a doll. It was a good, noisy time at their house.

Wednesday we went on an outing the Great Lakes Crossing Mall. Steven had a Snow Day (he had one Tuesday as well because of the extreme cold temps) and we all just needed to get out. We basically just pigged out on mall food. We got pretzels, our banana flavored soda that we like, some candy from the Bass Pro Shop...We walked the entire mall and got a new church dress for Ruby. It was a good escape MINUS the fighting that is ought to happen when I have all my kids together.

Thursday Steven was finally back at school and Tyler was out at work. The rest of us did a Costco trip at lunchtime so we could pick up a few things and also eat free samples and also eat lunch there. It's funny but Costco is a "cheap" way to get out of the house and entertain my kids on a cold day. Thursday night some sort of bug or sinus issue hit me hard- runny nose and massive headache. I tried to turn in early but Ruby had other ideas and was refusing to sleep. I ended up texting Tyler to come get her. She did not go to sleep until midnight. And she still woke up twice in the night. She is exhausting.

Friday night was Youth Temple night and thankfully the roads were perfect and we did not have to repeat the traumatic event of last week. I took the older 3 since Tyler had to pick up some things for an archery tournament the next day (he's a volunteer coach, as though he doesn't have enough stuff to do). There was another group that showed up at the temple for baptisms at the same time as ours(we think maybe they came at the wrong time) and they were super disorganized and somehow had their people go first. It all took forever but I am still glad I got to be there for when Steven got to be the baptizer for the first time and Lucy got to do baptisms for the first time. It was nice to actually see Steven being respectful and reverent to his siblings. After the temple we got ice cream with everyone at Culver's. I sat away from the bulk of the teens and sat instead with Alissa, Sister Hess, Claire and Bro Richardson. It was a nice outing.

Saturday Steven had his archery tournament in the morning and got his best score yet- 236. Way for progress! The kids had various hang outs that day and Tyler and I (and Ruby) went on a little date that night. Nothing too exciting but a nice Saturday still the same. And here are some random cute pics from the week:

Break Continues

 On Sunday I got issued a second calling- Primary Teacher. I will be co-teaching Penny's class. There are a few boys in that class that I heard can be quite difficult so I am not looking forwards to that, but I will be teaching with my friend Ashlee who I don't see much these days so I think that will be nice. I guess I'll have to get subs on the days I am teaching my other class though? Doing both callings might be a bit complicated. I will also miss these last few years of not having to worry about covering a Sunday calling. 

Also on Sunday Ben got set apart as a Teacher and Steven got set apart as a Priest and Lucy moved up to Sunday School/YW's. It was a big Sunday for our kids (and their friends)!

Monday Penny had to get two adult teeth pulled because she has such a tiny mouth. It makes me a little anxious because she seems young to be losing adult teeth and I feel like her mouth has time to grow but the orthodontist convinced us it needed to happen and so hopefully it was the right choice. She did really good up until the pulling part. She had just whimpered and cried some before that but as soon as they started pulling each tooth out there was definite screaming and protesting. She has 2 other adult teeth on her bottom jaw that need to be pulled as well and the dentist suggested that we put her under for those. Ugh. That would be expensive. The laughing gas seemed to increase her emotionalness so she was pretty upset the rest of the day. I tried to bring her joy by letting her watch "Lilo and Stitch 2" and getting her a smoothie but that didn't help too much. She was pretty miserable for the rest of the day.

Monday night I fed Ruby her first "solids". It wasn't awful but I am not sure how much made it in her mouth either. She really seemed more intrigued by her plastic bib than the food. Later that week we tried the rice cereal again but with a more textured spoon and a non-plastic bib. It went better but I still probably won't be feeding her cereal everyday- probably just when I think of it and have time.

Tuesday morning I finally got my windshield repaired. It cost a small fortune but it had to happen. Steven is taking the road test soon and your car has to be road test worthy- cracks that spiral the whole width of the windshield are frowned upon. Nice to have a shiny new window though. That night I had Bunco. Melissa drove me and I was scared for my life- she is a bit of a crazy driver. It was rainy but she was speedy and tailgating. Somehow we made it there alive. There were really excellent prizes that night ($45 gift cards to Target) so of course, I did not win. We also played this "game" that was supposed to be for our Christmas Bunco but the lady who had made it was sick so hadn't brought it. It was literally just giftbags with numbers and you would roll the dice and take the bag with that number. I ended up with a bag with a crumpled 5 dollar bill in it- yay!? 

Wednesday somebody left the cage door partially open and Coral escaped. Steven discovered her sitting by the TV when he was getting ready to head out to seminary. His reaction to Tyler "What is this bird doing here?" I would love to have on video that birds great escape.

Thursday Lucy went to get another treatment for her warts. I am not convinced this is worth our time and money- especially since she is not good with the at home follow up (irritate warts with pumice and then put on compoud w daily). But I also know as a girl, having warts on your fingers is not ideal so we persist. The Doctor said it could take several more treatments so they are really going to get all our money it seems.

Friday I was going down to the basement and my foot slipped and I tumbled down the last few stairs, on my back. I am defintely still feeling that. That afternoon we started getting some really good snow. We had plans to take Lucy to the temple for the first time that night with the Mays. I had asked Grace to watch Ruby and Penny so the rest of us could attend with Lucy. Even though the snow was coming down fairly hard, we decided to still go. Tyler is a good driver and we have AWD. We figured if the roads seemed bad we could just abort and go home. Unfortunately fate had other plans for us. We were about 10 mins away from the temple when we hit a road that was closed. Tyler turned left and we all regret that choice. We got locked in on a road and were on that road for 2 hours with very little movement. We were surrounded by cars so there was literally nothing we could do. I felt like I was having a panic attack being trapped in an unmoving car and worried we would never make it home to Ruby and Penny. Yes, my thoughts spiraled. After 2 hours everyone had filtered into 2 lanes, leaving one empty next to us but still no movement. I felt like I was going to burst so I got out of the car to investigate- I walked past a dozen cars in my church boots and church clothes in thick snow. I am sure I looked crazy. I saw a huge truck with a flatbed trailer blocking several lanes and then a cop out trying to push another car out of the other lane. But there was enough space that we could pass by it all so we did it. We started a trend and got the heck out of there. If only it had been smooth sailing from there but it was not. So many roads were closed down and we had to detour and the roads were slippy slidey. I am so grateful for a husband who knows how to drive on bad roads and got us home safely. We had left to the temple at 5pm and did not get home until 9pm. The Mays however, made it to the temple, did baptisms and were home by 9pm as well. They were soooo lucky.

Saturday was a chill day at home. After being stuck in a car for hours I had no desire to get out of the house. I was an official homebody until that evening when we had a girl's night to celebrate Melissa's 40th. We had yummy food, played my game "Ransom Notes" and took a silly pic of Melissa and it was a good night out. Much needed.

Other than the drama of Friday night it was a pretty chill week. Tyler is back at work and going in 3 times a week. It was tricky with not having him to watch Ruby when I have to be places but it was manageable and I think we just function better when he is a working dad. I am not sure stay at home dad life is ideal for either of us. The girls created an awesome "doll house" made from Amazon boxes- apparently we just should have given them empty boxes for Christmas. Ruby got a fun new toy from Salvation Army and I got a cute pic of her two teethers. Now if only I could get Ruby to sleep through the night because she is still waking up twice a night and it is exhausting :(

Winter Break

Sunday after church one of the Bishopric members pulled me aside and gave me a calling. It's not necessarily a bad one but it was a little unexpected. I know that both Primary and Young Women's Presidency need a shake up and so I was sure I would end up in one of those but nope. I am going to be in charge of Parent's Teacher Council. I don't love the idea of teaching adults, they make me nervous. And I hate the crazy comments that can come about. But I know the nerves usually leave once I get started and I do love writing lessons. I'm sure once I figure out what exactly I am supposed to do it will be a good gig.

Sunday evening was New Year's Eve. I had bought some weird sodas to taste test with the kids and I was going to use them for Christmas but things  were already so busy that day that I decided to save them for New Years Eve. We've decided we're going to make this a New Years Eve tradition. We all had a shot glass full of every soda to try and then we guessed what flavor it was. No one was a fan of the "Christmas" flavored one and "Gamers Goop". But surprisingly "Pirate's Piss" (which actually tasted like banana) and "Unicorn Yak" (a mixed berry taste) were favorites.  After the taste testing we watched the "Amazing Race" (I got all my kids into it, my Grandma Brady would be proud) and then I went to bed while the kids all stayed up until midnight. I thought I was going to get more rest than them but Ruby was up at 12:30 and then two times after that. She has not been sleeping well at night.

Monday was Tyler's last day of leave so I told him I wanted to do something as a family for a last hurrah. He had some quarters he was willing to spend so we went Marvin's Mechanical Museum and played some games. Even though Steven didn't want to come, I think everyone still ended up having a good time. Even Ruby got to ride on a camel. The kids decided to pool all their tickets together and still, with 400 tickets, they could only get candy to share.

After our fun at the arcade we took Steven to his friend's house and I picked up a really fun activity center/jumperoo thing for Ruby (a FB Marketplace find). She might still be a little too young for it because she gets tired pretty fast and flops over a bit but the toys come off so she can still use it now. 

Tuesday Tyler headed back to work, only to find out that he hadn't notified HR properly and he could not get into the building. I didn't mind too much because that meant I still had him at home for help for a bit longer. BUT I do hope that he will still get a paycheck for this past week. He made sure to join meetings and make contact with lots of people so there is evidence that he was working. His manager will be back in town this coming Tuesday and hopefully everything will get worked out then. 

Wednesday I went to Mariah's to drop off a gift and finally meet Maverick. Holy cow he is one small baby, so light- he almost doesn't seem real. He slept in my arms the whole time while Mariah got some things done around the house. She says he is always sleeping and she has to wake him up to feed him because he is on a tight schedule as a preemie. While I held him, I entertained her other kiddos. They love to talk and talk and talk, lol. They are adorable and also exhausting. I don't know how I made it through those days of having a bunch of young kids. Ruby is more than enough for me right now.

Wednesday was our anniversary but we didn't really do anything because we had plans for Saturday. However, Tyler was nice, and came home from taking the kids to their church activities with flowers and candy for me. I wasn't expecting anything since I had exerted no effort so that was really thoughtful of him. Made me feel like a stinker for not doing more.

This week we have been trying to get ahead on school work so the next 2 weeks at home weeks won't be too full of school work. I think we made some pretty good progress. We had nothing Thursday so it was a good productive day. Friday we did some more school work and then the kids had friends over in the afternoon. I never mind Ben having Andrea over. They are not needy and they stay out of my hair. Lucy and Penny had Geli and Luna over and the first few hours were good but I probably shouldn't have planned such a long play date. By the end they were all having drama with each other- fighting over toys and turns and games...I had a big discussion with my girls after their friends left about being a good friend and a good hostess. I feel like I keep having this discussion with Lucy and I am hoping things start sinking in soon so that her having friends over doesn't feel like such a burden. I want to be the home that their friends want to hang out at. But I also have a little baby so I need their friends not to add to the stress.

Saturday we celebrated our anniversary by going to Benihana's for lunch. We left the kids in charge of babysitting Ruby which made me super nervous since usually we stick closer by. But they did good watching her and Tyler and I had a nice time watching our food be made and eating it. Our chef wasn't too entertaining and we were probably the oldest people at our table but the food was good. Later that day there was a ligth snow fall so Penny and I took Ruby out for a short walk in it. I need to get better at taking her out, even when it's cold out, the fresh air is good for us all.

This week Ruby turned 5 months old! She has fully mastered rolling from her tummy to her back and can do it like a pro and often. As I said she has decided sleeping at night is overrated and I am not a fan of this regression. She still gives the best smiles though and some good belly chuckles and she can hold her own bottle like a champ.