Sunady Best, Graham Cracker Houses, Santa Cookies, Christmas Jammies

The Sunday before Christmas was quite lovely- no meetings, no calling obligations... It was the first Sunday we had in a long while that we had nothing but sacrament scheduled for the day. That meant I had plenty of time to take pictures of my children in their Christmas Sunday best but the added time was not helpful. There was a lot of whining from all and some crying from Lucy. Lucy had to go upstairs and calm down and then finally, we got some good shots. I thought with older kids this was supposed to be easier.

On Monday, I attempted to accomplish cleaning and some things but a friend came over and kind of spoiled my plans. I did manage to squeeze in a run before going to pick up my parents from the airport though. They must have brought the sunshine with them because it was a lovely, warm day. Deciding to enjoy the warmth, we all walked down to the library. It was a little chillier on the way back but we warmed ourselves up with a classic Poppy dish of meat and potatoes. That evening the DePlonty's and Farquharson's came over and decorated graham cracker houses with us. They're good people and I enjoy their company. The kids didn't spend too long decorating houses but they had fun playing hide and go seek outside in the dark, playing "don't eat pete" and also pinning the carrot nose on the snowman. It was a good evening.

I spent most of Tuesday in the kitchen. And also had to make 2 trips to the store for forgotten things- so not on top of things. It was really nice having my parents there because they kept the kids entertained. Poppy even took 3 of them on a walk to Kroger's and Burger King- and those places are not so close. Early afternoon we had our fancy meal that both Tyler and I had slaved over. He had done the turkey for the first time ever. Everything was real delicious and he did a good job on his first ever turkey- really moist and flavorful. 

After our fancy meal we decorated Santa cookies. Even Grams got in on the fun and decorated a few. This time we really had a talk with them about not trying to give Santa diabetes with an excessive amount of candy and icing decorations. For the most part they did pretty good.

When we finished decorating cookies we opened up our Christmas jammies! The boys all got "You have died of dysentery" Oregon trail shirts. They were a hit! The girls got matching unicorn jammies. Tyler had bought me a Christmas unicorn shirt too but it didn't come until 2 days after Christmas. I was real disappointed that I didn't get new jammies for Christmas Eve. It's tradition for us all to get a pic in our new jammies :(

When we finished our jammie pics we all piled into the suburban to drive around and see the Christmas lights in the neighborhoods. We found a fancy neighborhood that was all decked out in lights and Poppy was impressed with the large houses. We also found a house in our own neighborhood that had it's very own radio station with lights that turned on and off with the music. It was pretty fun and Steven said that his friend's grandpa owns that house and spends months setting it all up.

Then it was time for bed and Steven must have complained a thousand times about how much he hates Christmas Eve because it's sooo hard to fall asleep. I think he's lucky that he only has one day a year where he struggles to sleep. However, I was in bed by 11 and he was definitely asleep then so he must have figured it out.

Us grown ups watched "It's a Wonderful Life" while setting up gifts and when it ended it 'twas off to bed for all of us. 

Lights, Field Trip, Toledo Zoo

Sunday was busy with a meeting before church, one after and then the Stake Christmas Program. We don't usually go to the stake Christmas program but my friend Caroline was in charge of the music so we went to support her. I also sat by her family so I could help with their littlest when her husband was up accompanying a song. The music was nice, one of the numbers was "Mary's Lullaby" and that is my all time favorite. It was a good program just really hard to keep the kids contained since they had been sitting all day.

Tyler had saved up some time off so he was able to have this whole week off. On Monday we took advantage of him being off work and the kids at school and we went out to breakfast. Afterwards we ran a couple quick errands and then I had the exciting task of cleaning the house while he did some online Christmas shopping. That evening we took the kids (plus Jacob) to the Wayne County Lightfest. There was a bit of a line of cars to get in but the wait was only about 15 mins so not too bad. There were several new lights out and ones that had not all been working in the past were all fixed up. It was real nice. The kids also enjoyed their traditional doughnuts and juice as they checked out the lights. I enjoy this tradition because it's inside a nice warm car!

Tuesday morning I volunteered as per usual while Tyler enjoyed a LONG trip to the SOS to get the suburban registered for Michigan at long last. After volunteering I went for a run in the ridiculous cold. It was probably the fastest I've run because I was freezing and just wanted to get back into the warmth. I don't know how people run frequently in the cold. I absolutely hate it. After my run I took Corinne and little Lucie to Arby's as a thank you for all the frames she made for the YW's themes. Then she came back to my house and we worked on a puzzle. I love her to death but she has no concept of how long is an appropriate to stay over. All my kids came home from school and she knew I had the temple to go to that night and still she stayed. I decided just to make dinner and still she stayed. Finally when I finished cooking dinner she left but I felt awkward, like maybe I should invite her for dinner. 

As stated before I had the temple that night. I went with a friend who doesn't have the best temple attendance record so I was surprised when she invited me to go. I am proud of her for getting there more and it is always good to spend time in the temple.

Tuesday we also had this fun llama craft as part of our countdown to Christmas and per tradition the kids received the ornaments Aunt Ragena had made in the mail.

Wednesday, after getting some things done around the house, Tyler and I went out to an early lunch and then strolled Barnes and Noble. We rarely buy anything there but I sure love wandering the store. We ran a couple errands after that and then time for the kids to be home.

That night for the youth activity we were all combined so we went as a family. We were caroling at a senior center. The young woman in charge didn't work too hard on prepping the music so were not very organized but gratefully she put Tyler in charge and for the most part it turned out ok- just some noisy moments between songs figuring out what to sing next. Also, I ended up having to accompany because her accompanist fell through so that was slightly disastrous but thank goodness everyone sang loud enough to cover my mistakes. Afterward I attempted to make conversation with some of the seniors there- it was kind of awkward at moments but I tried.

Thursday morning I went to the eye doctor because I have had floaters in my vision. It was a painful visit. They dilated my eyes and did a lot of bright lights and then they sent me outside with no sunglasses. I about ran into a car because I was so blinded by the sun. The verdict from all that torture is that my retina has not detached...yet. Floaters happen with age and extreme nearsightedness so she doesn't think it's a big deal and she thinks my brain should adapt to them BUT she wants me back in a month just to make sure my retina is still attached. Comforting.

Thursday afternoon I got to substitute teach with my "owl" eyes as Tyler called them. I told the kids and they were nice and didn't mind me dimming the lights. The kids were also full of a lot of drama- there is so much tattling and meanness, it makes me crazy. But I survived the afternoon with only a mild headache.

Friday I got to go with Penny on her field trip to the Marquis Theater. The bus ride was long and her friend (in the pic below) was very clingy but we survived. The play, "Beauty and the Beast" was just the right amount of time for the little ones attention spans and Penny was only mildly scared by the beast. All in all, it was a good show.

Friday night Lucy made this super fun and only a bit creepy panda mask and insisted on wearing it while she ate dinner.

For Christmas Tyler's parent gifted us a membership to the Toledo Zoo. Since it started Dec 1st we decided to go ahead and use it today. Tyler had a Court of Honor to be to in the afternoon so we didn't get to stay too long but we still had a good time. Although we saw some fun animals- I think the kids had more fun posing with all the "photo props" and playing at a little outside play area. There was practically no one at the zoo so it was kind of nice to just have it to ourselves.

Also this Friday we got to take home Penny's class pet- 2 guinea pigs- to watch for Winter Break. They are very skittish and this one was shaking the whole time the kids held her but so far they are super easy. We just have to make sure they are fed and watered.

 

Santa

This week was not the best week. On Monday we learned that Tyler's mom has a mass on her ovaries and they seemed confident that it was cancer and were worried it had spread into the lymph nodes. (Thankfully we learned later on in the week that it has not spread and it is either a benign tumor or the cancer is only in her ovaries.) Shortly after hearing this upsetting news, my period decided to start. I was kind of an emotional disaster that night- worried about his mom and sad that I still am not pregnant. Also confused because I felt so strongly that we were supposed to have another child and here we are a year later and I am still not pregnant. 

The next day I got in a good run which always helps my mental health and spent the rest of the day baking a mass load of cookies for young women's. That night I went begrudgingly to bunco- I was still feeling down and not mentally up to so much socialization but then a friend, who had no idea about my rough week, said to me that her 4 year old daughter had prayed for Tyler and me the previous night. To me it was the reminder that I needed that my Heavenly Father is thinking of me and loves me. It wasn't random but inspiration.

The rest of Bunco was fun- we don't actually play Bunco in December. We did a gift exchange where it turned out all the gifts were the exact same thing. She had just wrapped them to look differently so it was a fun surprise when we realized we were stealing and trying to switch for no good reason. The gift was a robe with a dice patch on the sleeve- pretty fun. After that we did the usual saran wrap ball which is always interesting to see how crazy everyone gets trying to unwrap the thing. 

Wednesday night we did a gift exchange with the young women and decorated cookies. All the yw had brought gifts and it was pretty funny that everyone kept trying to steal the one with the penguin bag because they thought the bag was cute. All the leaders' kids got to play too and Penny ended up with the cute penguin bag before the last round and was so excited- it had cotton candy, a notebook and a cute pen. Unfortunately during the last round it got stolen by another leader's kid. She was so upset but then Lucy had a chance to steal and stole it. She said she partially stole it for Penny and partially because she wanted it herself. At least she's honest. Afterwards there was cookie decorating which involved lots of sprinkles and frosting and random kids appearing trying to snitch some of the deliciousness. 

Thursday morning I met with the Young Women's president from the other Ward at our building. She seems so much more organized and put together. I wish I could stop feeling like I can't get caught up. It just always feels like there's so much to do and like there's so much that I am not doing. After the meeting Lucy and Ben had a half day so I picked Penny and Steven up from school and we all went to see Santa at the Bass Pro Shop. We only had about a 15 minute wait and then we got our annual picture. Penny looks angry in it but oh well. When asked what they want Penny requested a camera, Lucy wants a bike and unicorn helmet, Ben wants a bike and Mohawk helmet and Steven wants a go pro camera. We'll see what happens.

After seeing Santa they had fun playing with all the things out at Bass Pro Shop- shooting games, remote control cars, coloring pages, writing letters to Santa, building things...They also had fun "riding" on a nearby boat and quads.

Thursday evening was Parent Teacher Conferences for Ben and Lucy. Lucy's teacher says Lucy is above level in most things and just a joy to have in class. However, Lucy's teacher likes to bring up that time Lucy was sick in class and had strep throat. Lucy was sick BUT she did not have strep throat. I tried to tell her teacher this before but she doesn't seem to believe me. Oh well, maybe she just had to find something to be negative about. 

Ben is not doing as great as Lucy. He is accelerating in math but not doing so well in writing. This is strange because last year his teacher always raved about what a great writer he was. At the end of the conference Ben went over the ratings he had given himself on his behavior. They were kind of low and when his teacher questioned him about why he scored himself so low he started to cry. It was awkward honestly. Afterwards when I was talking to him about it he said he scored himself low because he talked once in class. I told him if that's true, he shouldn't be so hard on himself. Oh my tender hearted Ben.

Friday I had a YW Presidency meeting and a dentist appt for Lucy. I also got asked to sub for 4 different people that day and had to say no. That was disappointing because I could really use the Christmas money. The meeting was probably one of our quickest and most efficient though and I am grateful for that. And it was nice to have everyone's support when I told them about my super frustrating group text incident with the primary president. I had sent out a text inviting everyone to New Beginnings and she had responded by saying that primary was planning on event that involved parents on that same night. So frustrated because she hadn't advertised hers at all nor put hers on the calendar. She should've rescheduled because we had that night first! Ugh.

After the meeting I took Lucy to the dentist. She had some pretty worrisome plaque on her teeth. Thankfully it was just plaque, not cavities so they scrapped it off and even did it with no charge to me. That was a blessing

Friday night I went to see one of my girls (and 2 girls who are coming in to yw's in January) in the musical "Legally Blonde Jr." It was fun but I am not sure super appropriate for Middle Schoolers. It also had a song that pretty much involved singing "Oh my Gosh" but not gosh of course, over and over. So yeah...not the best clean wise but entertaining and it's always good to support my yw.

Saturday as part of our 12 day countdown the kids got a new game. The game got such good reviews online but it was not such a great game for the kids. It is really tricky to get the pieces to stay on and balance we ended up not following the rules and just trying to get the pieces to stay in our own order. It was hard but we did it!

Things

Monday Penny was saying her tummy hurt. She seemed like she was faking but since I didn't have anywhere to go that day and she is only in Jr Kindergarten I decided to let her play hooky. In the end it turns out she was indeed faking but we had a real nice day together- just like old times. I made her a smoothie, we read books, I painted her nails...lots of nice quality time. That night the kids and I made cookies for my friend Jessica and then we ate the extras with some ice cream. So yummy. One of my favorite treats.

Tuesday I finally got to have a regular volunteer day. I enjoy my first task, shelving books- organizing always makes me happy. My second task, helping in Lucy's class, is not my favorite. I am never quite sure what she wants from me- help with writing or help with behavior. I feel less useful there. That evening I went and delivered the cookies to my friend Jessica. She was counting her blessings that night. Here she is going through chemotherapy and talking about how grateful she is for everything. She's a good lady. We also had a real good talk about young women's and creating resilient Youth. When I told her I was nervous about giving my talk for YW in Excellence, she told me to practice it on her. She was real supportive of it and built up my confidence. She's a good friend.

Wednesday night was YW in Excellence. I was feeling really anxious and nervous about everything but it turned out good. I set up the church in the morning with Jenny Briscoe. Moving the piano to the cultural hall was quite the task but we did it. I was glad Jenny was there because I couldn't have moved that on my own and she also added a little fancy to my simple decor. 

That night I finished with the set up. Corinne was there to hand off the beautifully framed new YW's themes she had made for me. I had her do half (they were poster sized) and then I did another half that were smaller and with store bought frames. Everyone there picked her's- they were a definite hit. She is so talented. I was glad she was there because I had some issues with the balloons I had bought and she helped me figure out how to weigh them down and keep them pretty. I was also grateful for Brother Maxwell who happened to be there and helped save my balloon that I accidentally let go of. Lastly I was grateful to my husband who set up the technology aspect of it so the slideshow at the end went off with no issues.

The program itself went fairly smoothly- minus a beehive who almost refused to go up when it was her turn to talk (she's also the new younger class president so this could be interesting) and minus not having a microphone so it was kind of hard to hear sometimes- definitely would get one next time. There were some good thoughts said overall and I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost who got me through my talk- even allowed me to improvise some which I normally never do. I am also grateful for the chance I had to bear my testimony. I have been feeling like I should bear it the last 2 Fast Sundays and chickened out. I'm glad I wasn't able to chicken out this time. 

After the program was nachos and various Costco desserts (including the delicious creme puffs- love them so much!). Then the guys who come to play basketball Wednesday nights totally pushed us out but that also meant that they did a lot of the clean up since they wanted us out so that was kind of nice.

Thursday I subbed in the morning and the class was RoUgH- the Holidays are definitely approaching. Then after that I went and helped out Ben's class- hot gluing projected. There were 2 other moms doing it- one mom who I see at the bus stop occasionally (when her husband can't make it). I properly introduced myself and was talking to her thinking she recognized me from the bus stop too- she did not. Sometimes I feel so invisible. I also noticed that Ben's was the least pretty of projects (they were making monuments and then adding working lights to them). Everyone had painted there's and made it presentable. His teacher claimed that was ok, it was just for a science grade. I guess none of my kids are over achievers like me.

Friday was another sub job and then that night I got to go to WL Central High's Collage Concert with Steven to see a couple of my young women. It was about 2 hours long (its a mix of band, orchestra and choir performances) and while I really liked it, it was a little hard for Steven to sit that long. I am enjoying seeing my YW in there various extracurriculars. It gives me a chance to chat with their parents and get to see them in their elements. It also gives me a chance to get some culture ;)

Saturday morning was Candle Day at Bath and Body Works. I got there at 6- just like last year- but it seemed way busier this year. They made us wait outside for 40 minutes because the store had too many people. And then I waited in line for another 40 minutes. But hey, I got 6 candles at $7 a piece so that's real good! After that I rushed home so Tyler and I could go do sealings at the temple. We had originally planned to leave the kids home alone and see how it went but a sweet Young Women of mine, Abby, offered to watch my kids for free. I felt much better having her there and am so grateful to her for that. Lots of good people in my life. I hadn't done sealings in forever and never at the Detroit temple so I needed some direction where to go and I forgot how uncomfortable it can be to kneel for so long but it was still good to be reminded of those covenants made during a sealing.