Arizona

 Monday and Tuesday we started back up with homeschooling since the boys were back at school. I was worried that after the long break it would be rough to get back into it but the girls did suprisingly well. After the girls did their work Monday, I had a dentist appointment. There is a tooth that has been bothering me but I never say anything anymore because I figure if there is something wrong it should show up in the xray and I really don't want to pay for more dental work...The lady who cleaned my teeth commented that the gums were puffy by that tooth and she showed it to the dentist but he didn't seem worried. He just told me to get a water pik/flosser and that would help. I guess I should get one to see if that does help. Monday evening we did another visit to Chuck-E-Cheese. The kids are still obsessed. We will see how much longer the obsession lasts, but at this point I think we have definitely gotten our moneys worth on the passes.

Wednesday I had an extra early flight to Arizona. Ruby had woken up in the night and after I got her back to sleep, I checked to make sure my alarm was on. While checking my alarm I somehow turned it off like a dummy and so it did not go off at 4:30am. Luckily my body woke me up just before 5 and I almost shouted to Tyler "We slept in" (I do like "Home Alone"). He still got me to the airport in plenty of time and I had an hour to sit and read while I waited for my flight. On my flight I got really lucky and had no one sitting by me on my row and no one behind me either. I read a chic lit for part of the flight and then watched the show "Shrinking". My friend had told me about it so I was excited they had it. Unfortunately they only had the first 3 episodes so they hooked me in and then left me high and dry. So rude. 

It was still morning when I made it to Arizona which made the day feel very long and tiring. Mike was nice and picked me up from the airport and brought me to my parent's house. We chatted for awhile and then he had to get back to work. I was hungry at that point so Grams and Poppy took me to Zuppas to eat. After Zuppas Grams and I meal planned and then went grocery shopping. We are super exciting ;)That night I introduced her to the show "The Middle" and we enjoyed watching that in the evening while I was there.

Thursday morning I helped my mom put together her new Swiffer mop and then decided I needed to clean her floors. I'm not sure I did a great job since my socks still got dirty while I was there but I tried real hard. That afternoon Mike and Mecca took me out to a fancy convenience store called "Air Guitar" and ate some very fancy cotton candy burritos. They were delicious! We also spotteed luxury apartments that were named very appropriately "The Tyler"!

When we finished our delicious treat, Mike was nice and took me to a Lego store that resales Lego's. I loved it and spent more money that I should but also less money than I wanted to. I finally got a minifigure for Ruby, new hair for Ruby, a glasses face for Penny and a new Tyler. I also got a few other random minifigures. Our updated family is pictured below on a cool stand that Mike gave me. 

Friday I met my mother in law for lunch at Kneaders. I thought it might be awkwared because sometimes she is not so chatty but it actually ended up not awkward and really nice. We had a good chat about all the things- my kids, her kids, and a lot about Jezerea and her crummy husband. We chatted for 2 hours. Steve gave Leslie cash for the lunch so that was nice. She decided to get a treat and I was a people pleaser and pretended I liked the brownie she got. Brownies usually upset my stomach so I am not a fan. 

After lunch I took Grams to her dr's appointment. I was mostly just a chauffeur,  I don't think I offered much other than that but I was glad to be there and keep her company. Her doctor was in and out very quickly but the guy who checks her pace maker stayed around longer and helped answer her questions.

Later that day, I went and saw "Gladiator 2" with Mike and Poppy. Only 2 other people were in the theater besides us, it had been out for awhile. I really loved the first one so I was hoping this would be good but it was mostly a cash grab. Weird AI animals, shallow characters and lots of repeated story lines. It was still entertaining I suppose but not quite what I was hoping for. 

Saturday morning I went on a hike with Mike, Lillian, and Matilda. It was cold so I had to borrow my moms winter jacket since I hadn't packed mine. I am a baby, even in Arizona. We did "The Ranch" hike which we have done before and is a good one. Nothing strenuous but it's pretty and quiet. We came across some frozen water at one point aned the girls had fun throwing rocks at it and breaking the ice. Unfortunuately breaking the ice revealed the stinky algae underneath. Lillian talked to me about Harry Potter which she loves and she also talked about the boring stories she has to read in school. Matilda found the walk tiring but she was a trooper and made it through. We also walked by a family that had a couple dogs and one was eating horse poop so that was gross.

After the hike we ate at Cost Vida and then went back to my mom's house where Lillian and Matilda helped me make cookies for a bit before they headed off. I was surprised Gram's super ancient mixer was able to mix the dough. It did less great with the cookies I made Monday though... The rest of the day was mostly me cooking- I made a banana pie too and then dinner. However, I did take a break from cooking to go shoe shopping. I helped Poppy find some shoes and we got Ruby a cute pair of shoes because hers were getting tight. 

New Year!

On Sunday Tyler and Ruby stayed home from church. I wasn't feeling well but I had to play piano (I was subbing for the primary pianist) and I had to teach a primary lesson so I still went. I was feeling really crummy (runny nose, headache and a bit of nausea) and probably should have stayed home too but alas I went and shared my germs with everyone instead. 

On Monday Ruby and I still weren't feeling great and Tyler had joined the sick club. For Christmas Tyler's parents had gifted us a Chuck-E-Cheese pass and the middle three were desperate to use it so I ended up taking them, despite not feeling great. The middle three had a lot of fun so it was probably worth going. Ruby was not in to riding any of the moving cars or playing any of the games, she was still fussy. She spent most of the time wandering around the place and staring at the bright lights and things. Sometimes she joined in games with her siblings. I do feel like the pass his parents got us for Christmas is such a good deal because we have the ability to play 100 games every day for 2 months. It take the kids about an hour to go through 100 games so it entertains them for a good amount of time and is an easy outing.

Tuesday was New Years Eve. That morning I went out to breakfast with Caroline and Grace to celebrate Caroline's birthday (it was on Monday). It was a nice outing but the food wasn't quite as good as I remembered and I probably talked too much.

After Ruby's nap, Penny's glasses were ready for pick up- that was fast! She was so excited that we ended up going to pick them up immediately. She does look pretty cute in them.

That afternoon we did our new tradition (started last year) of taste testing weird sodas. I did not pick well this year apparently. The kids were grossed out by most of them. I had gotten butterscotch beer, marshmallow and bubblegum (I will admit that those were both gross), kitty piddle, alien snot and cookies and cream. After our soda taste testing, Lucy went to Claire's house for a New Years Eve Sleepover.

That evening we had Mariah's family over and her friend's family over again. It seemed like as soon as they got here my eye started getting all boogery and blurry. Ruby had indeed had pink eye after all and had given it to me. Of course, for the whole night, all I could think about was that I had pink eye and they were all going to notice and hate me for contaminating them. So it wasn't exactly a very fun night for me. Mariah didn't seem to be feeling well either. Her friend asked her if she was feeling nauseous and she nodded her head yes- either sick or maybe pregnant? It's probably about time for her to be pregnant again. At 8 they all watched a countdown and toasted with grape juice and sparkling cider. I do not know why they brought grape juice- that was terrifying in the hands of children. Thankfully no one spilled. Then they left and I couldn't help but just feel relief. I was able to take out my contacts and wash my eye with a cloth. I stayed up for a little while longer and Tyler and I worked on our "escape the crate" gift that we had gotten for Christmas. He pretty much solved all the puzzles we worked on that night while I sat there with my goopy eye but I still enjoyed seeing how the puzzles got solved. Meanwhile Ben and Penny watched "Little Rascals". I attempted to go to sleep around the time the kids movie ended but I was unsuccessful. I might as well have stayed up with everyone instead of lying in bed awake.

Wednesday we paid another visit to Chuck-E-Cheese- this time everyone came. It was the only family outing I could convince Steven to go on. I was glad he came and hung out with Ruby. He didn't even complain too much. My eye was still yucky but at least I had my glasses to hide behind. With it being the New Years I didn't want to deal with trying to find a dr's place open so I had decided to see if my eye would clear up on its own. After Chuck-E-Cheese, we went and got lunch at Chick-Fil-A. It was a nice morning out as a family. 

Thursday morning my eye wasn't goopy just a little pink so I didn't feel like I needed to go spend the $100 to go to a doctor. That morning the girls and I went to the mall. Lucy had gotten a giftcard for Claire's that she wanted to spend. It took her quite awhile to decide how to spend it but she ended up getting some earrings and a couple necklaces. I am not sure why she is so in to buying jewlery. She rarely changes her earrings and I never see her wearing necklaces. After Claire's, Ruby played in the kids play area, we got a pretzel, we stopped at the dog store and then we headed home.

Thursday afternoon Ben had Andrea over and wanted to take her to Chuck-E-Cheese so we went yet again. Ruby was napping so we left her with Steven. Tyler was back at  work. Lucy was starting to feel sick so she probably should have stayed at home but she did take a really cute pic while there. Ben and Andrea had a really good time though...

Friday morning I woke up with goopy eyes again and so did Ruby so we ended up at a same day clinic that morning. The doctor confirmed that we both had pink eye and prescribed us some drops but she didn't seem too concerned about any of our other symptoms- just told us to come back if they got worse. Like I want to come back and pay another $100. I just really hate how bad our healthcare is and that is why I procrastinate going to the doctor so much. Ruby seems to be doing better but neither one of us is great. Lots of boogers and coughing.

Friday evening Tyler and I went out to celebrate our 19th anniversary. I had failed to get him a gift that day but he had wrote me a really nice note. We were going to get dinner at our favorite Chinese place but sadly we got there and found it had been closed due to a fire a couple months ago. This was disappointing. We ended up at Applebee's which is not a favorite but it was food and it was nice to have night out without any kids (the girls were watching Ruby). 

Saturday morning we went, yet again, to Chuck-E-Cheese. We are becoming regulars. The kids just really love it and it is an easy and free way to get out of the house on a cold day. Ruby and I played some games. She liked a space invaders game, a chicken game and grabbing all the balls when I was trying to play skee ball. I also introduced the kids to Deal or No Deal and they seemed to like that one. It's nice to be able to try out games because we know we can come back and play more. We are not spending our tickets in hopes that we can get something super awesome at the end of our membership. 

Saturday afternoon I went to go to the piercing place so I could get a shorter rod on my nose stud but it turns out the piercer is out of town for the next 2 weeks. Boo. The rest of our day was uneventful. I think Ruby is finally feeling better so hopefully she will be good for Tyler when I go to Arizona Wednesday. She had been so fussy during the week- needing to be held and waking at nights- it is good we have turned a corner.