Thanksgiving with the Jones Family

Monday Penny began leaving for our trip on Wednesday insisting she needed lots of time to get ready. She is my mini me... although she started earlier than me this time. We didn't have too much school work to do so that was nice. It gave me time to run some errands I needed to get done before the trip- baby wipes from Costco and a return at Target. At Target we ran into Lucy's friend Claire who was there with Brielle. Lucy had asked to hang out with her that day and now knew why it wasn't going to work. It felt awkward to see them there but Lucy handled it well. I really wish we could find Lucy a better friend. One that wants to hang with her more often. 

Monday evening Lucy had a volleyball game and I finally went. Ruby and Tyler came as well. Her team did not win but Lucy is definitely doing better, she really goes after the ball. It was fun to watch her and Ruby behaved pretty well, even if it was past her bedtime. 

Tuesday morning I ended up needing to prep a meal for Caroline's family, she was in the hospital (she had cranial pressure which is all fixed now). I just made my enchiladas and picked up a salad and chips and dip for her family. Also that morning I worked on packing for the trip and dropped off keys for Sharon (so she could take packages in) and Grace (so Reggie could feed the guinea pig- yes it's still alive). Grace also have me rice crispy treats to make up for the ones stolen at the service project, she's funny but also, she's a great friend. 

That afternoon, the girls and I went to see "Wicked For Good". It was a fun watch but they did change quite a bit from the musical. The girls seemed to enjoy it for the most part, they just said some bits were boring and they didn't like the love song.

Wednesday morning was spent tidying up the house because I didn't want anyone with the key to my house to encounter a disaster. We didn't leave to West Virginia until Ben got home from school- it was a half day so he was home by 11. He really didn't want to miss school and we weren't in a rush. We took 2 cars so we didn't have too squish. I was in the Squeak with Ruby, Steven and Ben. Lucy, Penny and Tyler were in the Traverse. I took the boys so they could help with driving and also,  Steven was super helpful with Ruby. I started the drive, then Ben drove and Steven finished. I made a mistake and without realizing it,  gave Ben the toughest drive- it was in the city and lots of traffic and lane changing. He did well all things considered. Just one time that he didn't merge well with a semi but we didn't due obviously.  Steven got the hilly curvy WV drive and did well too- minus completely running a red light. We listened to the book,  The Rangers Apprentice, which ended up being a good listen. Ben and I both enjoyed it. It had adventure and some revenge- Ben loves revenge. We also managed to stay together with Tyler's car. He's good at following and we had walkie talkies which was helpful. Once we arrived at Mariah's, chaos ensued. The kids were all happy to be together and instantly started playing together and being silly. 

Mariah's house wasn't super big (but it was flipped recently so it was really pretty) so we got a hotel room for the girls and Tyler and me. The boys stayed in Mariah's living room. We ended up at the hotel fairly late and had a really challenging time getting Ruby to sleep. She really just needed to cry it out but we can't do that at a hotel. She eventually fell asleep in bed with Tyler and me. I'm not sure why I bothered bringing her pack n play. 

Thursday morning we headed over to Mariah's. Tyler got started on the turkey and I enjoyed a relaxed thanksgiving. I spent most of the day holding Mariah's newest baby, Sterling. He is a really chill baby and only cried when he was hungry or tired. The kids watched lots of TV- The Thanksgiving Parade in NY, Bad Guys 2 and after dinner they played Gang Beast for hours. Steven spent most of the day on the couch. Ben spent most of the day getting attacked by his cousins. The girls all spent a lot of time dressed up in fun costumes. The only thing I really did besides hold the baby, was make the mashed potatoes and clean some dishes and tidy up the kitchen. It was really nice not being in charge for once. The food itself was great- all the usuals except I didn't do my sweet potato casserole or Mac n cheese- but I think everyone survived without them. It was a good Thanksgiving. 

That night when we got back to the hotel the girls went swimming at the pool (just Lucy and Penny). They didn't last long because it was overrun with obnoxious people. Probably the same ones that sounded like elephants above us every night and morning. It was another tough night with Ruby in our bed,  but we survived. 

Friday morning we took our time getting ready and then headed to Mariah's. They made some delicious breakfast and then Tyler and I sat and chatted with Mariah. It was a great conversation until they got into an argument/ debate over Israel and then they spent at least an hour, if not two,  discussing their beliefs. I know they're not actually mad at each other, and they both love arguing, but it's not my thing so I was bored and it also upset my tender hearted kids. They don't like contention.  

When they were finally done(or more accurately I was able to interrupt them) the kids ate lunch and then we went on a drive to see a waterfall. The drive was tough, very winding and nauseating. It didn't help that we missed a turn and ended up on a  long back road u turn.  We all felt a bit car sick when we got there but luckily no one puked.  It was super cold and the boys had to borrow Mariah's coats because they didn't bring a good winter coat. They looked funny. Despite the cold, it was a pretty view and a good time. 

When we got back, we ended up ordering pizza for the kids and then us adults (and sterling) went out to dinner. We went to a Mexican restaurant and the food was actually really good.  The conversation was also mostly nice. Mariah does have a lot of opinions on raising kids and I don't always agree with them (there are things that she won't understand about teenagers until she actually has some) but that is really just the Hatch way. 

Saturday we headed off early because the weather was looking sketchy for the afternoon so we wanted to try and beat the bad weather. Everything went really smoothly until the last 30 mins and unfortunately, Steven was driving when things got rough. The roads were starting to get slippery and we passed a recent accident (no emergency vehicles there yet) where 2 cars had flipped over. That was scary. And then our car slipped for a bit and that really scared me with Steven being behind the wheel. I trust Tyler but I don't trust Steven quite as much.  Thankfully we made it home safe and sound.  And then we spent the rest of the afternoon/ evening putting up the Christmas decorations. 

Primary Service Project, Sleepover and Soccer Win!

Sunday began with frustration. Originally I had asked Jean if she could take charge of the birthday kit service project for the primary, but she dropped the ball (for months) so I ended up just taking charge. It was fine, not a huge deal. But apparently she woke up in a tizzy Sunday morning thinking she was in charge still. I'm not sure who she thought was taking care of advertising and collecting donations for the last few weeks but clearly she didn't think it was me because she assumed nothing was done and set up an emergency meeting for that morning with the other ward (which had been loosely involved with us to this point but I had already been in contact with). I tried to tell her we didn't need a meeting, I was on top of everything, and then she informed me that she had already called the other ward and everything was set. I was so annoyed to have to go to church for a pointless meeting and it really was pointless. They all asked questions that I had already answered via text. I still had everything in control and nothing had changed. Ugh. The rest of Sunday wasn't much better. Penny had her temple/ Priesthood prep meeting which started late and ended late. I also had a leader mess up plans for future Wed night activities because she didn't bother to look at the schedule I had shared. The disorganization of the people at my church is making me batty. I may have burst a bit at the rest of the primary presidency. I'm having trouble controlling my temper lately. 

Monday was busy with Lucy catching up on schoolwork because she had gotten herself behind. She had an experiment with gravity which was super exciting ;)

Tuesday, while the girls were in school, Ruby and I had the pleasure of filling in all the gaps for the birthday kits- making sure we had an even number of the essential things (cake mixes, frosting, gift bags...).  In the end, we had enough stuff for 90 birthday kits. It was a lot of stuff to count and store but it was exciting that we had so much to give. 

After we ran our birthday kit errands, Ruby and I attended story time at the library for the first time. We got there 5 min early and Ruby had a hard time waiting for it to start but once it started I think she was glad she stayed. There were stories and music and bubbles and dancing- all dinosaur themed- and afterwards, the librarian put out coloring and fun toys. There was a pit of balls she enjoyed playing in, balls to throw in a bin, big plastic dinosaurs and some baby dolls. It's too bad this was the last story time until January because I'm sure she will want to go back. 

Wednesday, after the girls finished their school work, we went to Costco to get some treats for the service project. I ran into Brooke, who used to be in our ward, while we were there, actually she came up to me,  and she gave me a big hug. It was really good to see her but she was super busy with her littles so we didn't really get to chat. 

That evening we had the service project and inside I was super anxious but I really did a good job of organizing so set up was pretty easy and it went really smoothly.  Caroline had organized a choir practice for the ym and yw during the time I wanted to get things set up for the service project so I was a little frustrated because I needed help from my teens for set up but we fixed that by getting there extra early so my teens were still able to help. We set up 2 assembly lines for the birthday kits in the gym and then 3 tables in the primary room for making birthday cards. We didn't have quite as many kids as I had hoped for but it was kind of a good thing because then the kids were able to assemble about 3 or 4 kits each. I was worried about it but taking up enough time but it ended up taking up just the right amount of time. Funny enough, the only thing that frustrated me that night had to do with the treats I had brought.  As I was walking back into the church after putting some kits in my car, I saw a teen put an arm load of treats into a bag that her mom held open for her. That irritated me because I wanted to take the leftovers home, I had bought them after all. I may have made a comment in frustration to Tana and I may be starting to be seen as the resident grumpy middle aged woman.

Thursday I felt relief to be done with the service project. I celebrated by cleaning the house, lol.  And then Ruby and I went to Hospitality House and dropped off the birthday kits that we had in our car (we ended up having to split the load with a few other leaders because there were too many for my car). At first they seemed perplexed by what I was dropping off but then a lady came out who knew all about the birthday kits and wareadys so excited to receive them because she said they were all out. She even made me take a picture with the kits. It must have turned out bad because she never did post it.

After we dropped off the kits, I thought it would be fun to go to Wendy's with Ruby to celebrate. Unfortunately I made a rookie mistake and got the frosty with the food. Then all Ruby wanted to do was eat the frosty and I decided to make it a thing that she needed to eat nuggets first so we had a fight. And when she started screaming, it was time to go. Basically the whole "fun" outing was spoiled. 

Thursday night we went to the library, because nights seem to last forever in the winter. We saw the Heindel family while we were there. I had a good chat with Sasha until Ruby decided to bully their youngest and then a lot of drama ensued and our night out was basically done. 

Friday was a pretty chill day. The girls had a sleepover at mimi's house that night. 

While they were at the sleepover, Ben had a soccer game so Ruby, Tyler and I went. It was a big deal of a game because it was team made up of all people from his jv Northern knights soccer team. They even called themselves the knights. This was a team he had not been invited on and they were bragging on team snap about how well they were doing.  Despite Ben's team being creamed in the last 2 games, they won, 9 to 6. Of all the games they could have won, I'm so glad they won this one. It really boosted Ben's confidence! The only obnoxious thing is there was a kid on the team whose mom's boyfriend was there and that boyfriend was soooo obnoxious. He was yelling at the boys the whole time and usually not helpful things. Everyone was annoyed with him but no one wanted to take him on... pretty sure he was on something. 

Saturday Tyler took Ben to an archery tournament in the morning. It was in Portage so they didn't get back until the afternoon. Ben scored 231. 

Ruby and I had a nice quiet morning and then we went and picked up the girls from their sleepover. I ran a couple errands with the girls and then we headed home. Tyler and I had Panda Express for dinner and then later that night I went to Grace's. It was a nice Saturday. 

And some fun pictures from the week:

Things

Monday someone on FB was giving away a little pop up tent and I managed to snap it up. It is now obnoxiously taking up space in my living room but Ruby loves it. She also got a Peppa Pig House from Grace so she loves to sit in her little tent and play with her Peppa Pig House. 

Tuesday Tyler was off for Veterans Day. He was able to work on the bathroom for most of the day and got the flooring mostly done and the shower finished. We now have two showers again! Meanwhile Ruby and I had the exciting task of dusting all the upstairs lego shelves. It's amazing how quickly those gather dust. After I picked up the girls from school that afternoon, we dropped by Home Depot to get a couple things for Tyler. The aisle we needed to access was blocked because there was a man on a lift doing something. He gestured that we could come in the aisle but I felt very rebellious unhooking the chain to get in and then I had to awkwardly shimmy by his lift. Home Depot is just not my favorite place. Also Tuesday, I picked up some snow boots for Ruby off of FB marketplace because she has outgrown hers from last season. They are super ugly but she loves them because they are baby shark and they light up. She wants to wear them always.

Wednesday morning Penny had an appointment to check out her arm. It was a quick appointment. They took an xray of her arm and everything has healed nicely so the next step will be to take the rods out of her arm. Thankfully they will not just pull them out in the office (a horror story a friend told me) but she will need to go to the hospital for an outpatient appointment to get them out. They are aiming to do the appointment in the beginning of December so she can be all healed by Christmas. I just want it done before the end of the year so we don't start a new insurance year and have to pay a bazillion dollars.

Wednesday afternoon I discoverd a plethora a gnats in the boys doorway- they had been making a return in our house again. Turns out they were originating for Mariah's cage. Steven does not clean it out nearly enough so we did a major cleaning. Why is it always the boys room that gives me so much grief? I worry they will not survive when they don't have a mother to clean up after them. They don't seem to care much about having bugs in their room.

Wednesday evening Lucy had her second volleyball game. I wasn't able to go because I was home with Ruby. I am not a fan of these 8pm games. Tyler said Lucy played really well but a lot of other members on her team were not playing so great so they lost, badly.

Thursday night, Lucy, Penny and I had an activity at the church. It was combined RS and YW (&future YW) activity. The food was really yummy. Melissa was there for like 30 minutes- long enough to complain to everyone about her son getting falsely accused of cheating- and the she left. But that was Ok, I was kind of relieved when she left. There's always drama with her. I was happy to socialize with Mandi, Naoka and Sandra instead. After the food they had 4 people talk about the temple. They each gave what felt like church talks and it lasted about 50 minutes. Far too long for a Thursday night. By the time the talks were done, I was done and ready to go home but there was still a craft. The girls enjoyed the craft but I did not feel like it. I am glad that despite all the talking and the fact that most of the adults ignored the girls, they had a good time hanging together.

Friday morning we had our homeschool co-op. Ruby was feeling extra mean that morning and was constantly taking toys from Addie and Asher. She was a bit of a monster. Our centers didn't end up being big hits with the toddlers- the turkey theme was a bit of a bust- so mostly the toddlers fought over things and made messes. Afterwards Julie and I were on clean up duty so we took care of that as fast as we could so we could just go home. We have one more session to attend in December and then we will be done with this co-op. It just wasn't a good fit for us. The girls still didn't connect with anyone and they found the classes boring. It is nice that Ruby got some social but it's not worth the efforts.

Friday night the girls had a sleepover with some girls from the Ward. While they were away, Ben and I watched "Black Phone" It has too much bad language and violence and I am probably a bad parent for letting him watch it but... the storyline is good and I like the way things work out in the end.

Saturday Tyler was able to work on the bathroom some more and he got the toilet installed! I am so glad we have 2 working toilets again! Only thing left to install is the bathroom sink and then we will have a fully functioning bathroom. Also on Saturday Ben had another soccer game. His team is definitely an under dog and they really need some sort of miraculous coaching to pull them around because they lost 11 to 1. The other teamed scored like 7 goals in the first 15 minutes and then it got a little bit better until the other team got their final 4 goals in the end. It was hard to watch but Ben is really enjoying these low pressure games where he actually gets to play so that makes me happy.

Bronners

 Monday morning I had to drive my parents to the airport so they could go back to Arizona for the winter. I know they were happy to leave the cold but we are sure going to miss having them here- dinners, walks, tv shows at night with the kids, chess games, extra people to cheer on our kids- it won't be the same with them gone. After I dropped them off at the airport, Ruby and Lucy had a hair appointment with Grace. Ruby went first. She insisted on sitting on my lap and would not wear the cape so she got hair all over me but at least she didn't cry and fuss. She did really well (especially since I let her watch owl and panada reels) and her hair looks so much better- I wish I had taken her sooner. Lucy finally was able to get her hair trimmed so it was all one length and she can continue to grow it out. She is happy to be done with the pixie cut and always comments that she looked stupid with a pixie cut. I don't agree with her, I think she can pull off any hairstyle.

Monday night Tyler and I went on a date to REI. He introduced me to travel backpacks which is what he wants to get for Italy. They are really cool and I am intrigued, but they are also very expensive. I am hoping there will be some sort of amazing black Friday deal on them so we can get them without breaking the bank. After looking around at REI, we went to Shake Shack and got shakes and fries. It was a nice night out.

Tuesday was Election Day so the boys had off school and the girls had school on Zoom. Ruby and I left them to go on a walk with Grace. We had missed our walk last week so it was really nice to catch up on life. We both talked about how it would be nice to meet new people but we also don't want to go through the work of meeting new people. We also both talked about that feeling of something missing from our lives. Not sure if it is just a mid-life crisis thing but I wish I could figure out what would fill that hole for me.

Tuesday night Ben drove me out to World Market. They have these cool mini Torani Syrups that I want to give as gifts to neighbors and friends and the closest one was in Ann Arbor. Ben still needs night driving hours so it was the perfect way for him to accumulate some. It was a cool little store and they had the syrups so my errand was accomplished. It was also nice to get some one on one time with Ben. I got to hear about his classes and people in his life.

Wednesday morning Julie came over with Asher so we could plan our next toddler class. She always has so many things she wants to do but that's probably a good thing since toddlers don't have much of an attention span. Asher and Ruby played independently for most of the time and then near the end decided to play together and fight over Paw Patrol Cars.

Also Wednesday, Tyler took a half day off work so that we could go to Bronner's since Steven had a rare afternoon with no school or work.It was a really nice family outing. I read the kids Would You Rather questions that were Christmas/Winter themed and it was fun to hear their answers. I learned that they really like all our silly Christmas traditions- especially our graham cracker house party/It was also a good way to help the time pass more quickly. Once we got to Bronner's Ruby was excited by all the Christmas things and then even more excited by the ornaments they had of her favorite animals- pandas and owls. It was a tough choice for her but she picked a panda ornament in the end (with some slight nudging from me since we already have owl ornaments). Steven got a green Xbox Controller ornament. Ben got a marshmallow snowman driving a car ornament. Lucy got a Snoopy ornament. Penny got an Angel ornament (from Lilo and Stitch). After picking out our ornaments we froze our buns off and took pictures with the big Christmas decorations outside and then went to Wendy's for dinner. 

Thursday while the girls were at school I had a really thrilling day-Ruby and I ran an errand to Walmart and then I cleaned the house. She was not so great at Walmart but she was really good while I cleaned the house and entertained herself with toys. She goes through phases of being super independent and being super needy. I love when we are in the super independent phase.

Thursday afternoon I was going to help Kara with her baby since she had her appendix out Friday and was having a hard time lifting the baby. Unfortunately she caught a cold and cancelled. I was looking forward to holding her little baby but maybe I'll get a chance to hold her another time.

Friday, after a rough morning of homeschooling (Penny was feeling lots of feelings), Lucy had a birthday party with one of her friend's from Renaissance- Mila. They went goofy golfing and then they had pizza and played at the arcade at Chuck E Cheese. It had been so long since we were there! Lucy had to ride on the police car for Ruby. These 13 year olds are really just kids at heart.

Friday evening Tyler and I hung out at the Eakin's house with Grace, Jason, Eric and Nahoko. We played Worst Case Scenario- which was fun to try to guess how people would rate these bad scenarios- and then Scattergories- which was tricky for Nahoko since English isn't her first language. Then when we finished we just chatted. Jason wants to buy this nasty fermented fish and make all of us try it- apparently people gag just at the smell of it. Seeing how I hate sea food I was an automatic no but Nahoko is on board, lol. I wouldn't put Jason past actually buying it. 

Saturday I ran away in the morning to look at rain coats and packable coats for the trip. They are all so expensive, I am having a hard time buying anything. The trip itself is already expensive and I am not sure I can justify spending more money. It was nice to escape the kids for a bit though.

Halloween, Lucy's Birthday

Sunday Penny and Tyler had a musical number to sing while I played the piano ("I Know my Savior Loves Me"). Both of them woke up congested but I was determined to get this done so to church we went. Our musical number went ok- Tyler's voice had some issues with the congestion but I think he was on key for a majority of the song. After sacrament Tyler was subbing in as Primary Chorister and I had helped him prepare songs and activities. Lately my brain has been a little crazy and when he started to go off script, I felt compelled to go up and take over. I don't know why I couldn't have just let him do his own thing. Sometimes my brain goes crazy and I wonder if perimenapause is beginning for me.

Monday was kind of a lame day for us because the girls all had runny noses and weren't feeling well but we did manage to make it outside of the house for some Burger King with Poppy. 

Tuesday while the girls were at school, I took my dad to see "Regretting You". It was a heavy movie with death and cheating and love...Poppy liked it and I got some good cries in. I am grateful mom watched Ruby for me so we could go. It was really nice to get out to a movie- it had been a really long time.

Tuesday night we were supposed to go to the temple with my parents to do sealings (it would've been my first time back in years) but life had other ideas. Apparently Poppy did not bring his temple clothes (there was some miscommunications) and our temple does not have rentals. And Tyler was sick and coughing. I thought it would be awkward for just my mom and I to go to sealings so I cancelled. Hopefully I can do a redo with Tyler sometime soon.

Wednesday night Lucy had her first volleyball game of the season. Her games are now at the lousy time of 8pm so I stayed home so I could get the sick Ruby down for bed. Unfortunately I missed Lucy rocking it out on the court. She had 4 volleys in a row between the other side and in the end she scored on them. I'm sad I missed that. It was a good confidence boost for her though (her serves aren't always so great) so she seems to be feeling more excited about the season.

Thursday while the girls were at school, Ruby and I went with my parents to the mall in Auburn Hills. I helped my mom look for some wide leg pants and she actually found a good pair- she is so hip ;). Then we had some Panda Express while Ruby played at the play area. Ruby who can be quite mean, was actually nice and allowed another little one to sit by her on the play boat. Usually she yells at people that get too near to her so I was glad to see her playing nice. After we ate lunch, we stuffed ourselves silly with some pretzels and then headed back home so I could put Ruby down for her nap.

Thursday night was Ben's soccer banquet. The invite said it was from 6-9pm but I was sure it would not last that long. It absolutely lasted that long. They don't have a very good system for handing out awards and they called all 22 varisty played up like 5 different times to hand out various awards. Ben was given a "paper plate" award of "most teachable". I like that award for him. I had been dreading the awkwardness of sitting by strangers that night because last year we ended up by people that were not very easy to socialize with. This year we got lucky and sat by one of Tyler's co-workers and I chatted with his wife for a bit. She works in education so we had some common ground. Then I met the other 2 couples at the table who had freshmen that were bench warmers like Ben and they had big families as well so they were easy to chat with. It was nice that this year we had good people to chat with at our table. Also exciting, Poppy had bought a raffle ticket and he won a $100 giftcard to a jewelry store. Not sure what he's going to buy with that but that was still lucky of him to win.

Friday was Halloween. We homeschooled in the morning and then Poppy took us to Burger King. After Burger King we ran to Kroger's to get a few things and it was insanely busy. Every line extended out into the aisles. Not the greatest but we survived.

We didn't do anything extra special for Halloween. I wasn't feeling ambitious in that way, but it was still a nice day. I grabbed pizza for dinner and Tyler and my parents went and visited Steven at Taco Bell. He apparently got to take his break while they were there and ate with them. After dinner, the Mays came over and everyone went trick-or-treating. I went down one street with Ruby and then let Tyler take over. I walked back home alone with my butterfly wings and I am pretty sure people were weirded out by a dressed up adult walking down the street alone, lol. I came back to pass out candy but Caroline had taken over and didn't seem willing to relinquish. I was kind of bummed because I actually enjoy passing out candy and seeing all the fun costumes.

Saturday was Lucy's 13th birthday! I can't believe I now have 3 teenagers. She woke up and followed tradition by opening her gifts and eating Lucky Charms. This year she got from us: a silly shirt, a Dr.P hat, skin care products, a jewelry holder, film for her camera, press on nails and a spa headband. My parents got her a jacket and $$. 

After her birthday morning celebrations, Tyler and I did a Costco run with Ruby and then I went to the Dollar Tree with the girls. It turns out all these places are pretty empty the morning after Halloween. It was really nice.

At noon, Lucy's friends came over for her birthday party- Geli and Claire. She had invited two other friends but they couldn't make it. For her party she went to Taco Bell, came home for cake and ice cream and then went skating at Riverside Arena. They skated for almost 2 hours. It was a long time and super loud and I was a bit overstimulated but I did get to read some of a book and people watch (there are a lot of interesting people at a skating rink). It was actually a really easy party and all the things Lucy loves so it was pretty perfect.

For dinner we all went out to Culver's with the grandparents. It was nice to have everyone together and the food there is always good.

That night Ruby needed a bath but was not very interested in taking one until I told her that baby Chad would take one with her. She was very funny with him in the tub- putting bubbles on him, having him play with her toys, washing him- she makes a good skeleton mom.