Graham Cracker Houses, Arizona

Sunday evening we had our annual graham cracker house making party. I even made a super fancy appetizer, a Christmas Tree shaped Bread Pull Apart. I should've taken a picture to document how fancy I was. Once everyone arrived, the kids took their time making their houses because they all wanted to win an award. It's always hard to pick winners but I try to get at least one from each family. Evan won most creative because he made cactuses and melting snowman- spoke right to my Arizona heart. Jacob won most ugluist house because his, was well, a giant mess. Lucy won the most beautiful house and Beck won the most festive for all his Christmas colors. The kids that didn't win were severely disappointed but that's just life.

After decorating houses we played the saran wrap ball game- where you wrap up a bunch dollar store things in saran wrap. I'm not sure if this was the best game to add to our party. The kids were really intense about trying to get something unwrapped in the ball and some kids got really upset when the ball moved on and they still hadn't unwrapped something. My own kids didn't spaz too much but there was still a lot of shouting and emotions. The parents claimed it was entertaining and said we should do it next year. We shall see. After that "Don't Eat Pete" was played, the kids ran around outside and then it was time to part ways. Everyone always seems to enjoy this annual tradition so that makes me happy.

Monday afternoon we had the Mays over. I am a gluten for punishment and decided to do the saran wrap ball game with them. Not sure why when the night before it had been so crazy. Peter did not appreciate the game at all. He got super upset and stopped playing so it ended up being just my kids and Andrea and David. The rest didn't get too emotional but my kids kept winning the "big" prizes (a gift card and some cash). I had not really wanted my kids to win. Ben ended up trading his $10 Chick-Fil-A gift card for a dollar store stuffie when it was over and David traded his cash for a dollar tree rubber chicken. These kids did not make very smart trades.

After the saran wrap game we played Christmas Jeopardy. Once again there was some emotions when they didn't get a question right (especially Peter again) but they all ended up getting some points and in the end Ben won first place, Peter won second place and Steven won third place. A funny moment was when Penny was called on to answer the question- Where does Santa live. Just as she was called on David shouted "South Pole!" so Penny answered with "South Pole"- it doesn't pay to copy. I love hosting games, I just really wish kids were better at handling losing.

Monday night for our Christmas countdown we were going to do our traditional drive through Christmas Lights at the Wayne County Lightfest. Unfortunately I found out they were closed Monday and Tuesday so I started Googling to try and find something else. I ended up buying a ticket for us to go to the Magic of Lights in Clarkston. This was a $30 ticket, we usually pay $5. Well, it was definitely not worth the price hike. The lights were cool but they really weren't any better and I feel like it was a shorter drive than the one we usually go to as well. But Jacob came with us and the kids still had fun and our tradition wasn't broken and we did hop out and take a picture with a cool Christmas crab so, not a complete bust.

While the kids were at school Tuesday I did some packing and then went out to lunch with Grace and Caroline. Actually we went to a breakfast place for lunch but the food was good and the company was nice. Wednesday was more packing and getting ready for the trip and that evening Lucy had her last volleyball game (parents vs kids) which I missed because I had to take Steven and Penny to the church for activities. 

Thursday morning was super frustrating because the kids left their final Science Projects at home and I had to run back home and get them. Normally I do not do such things but when a teacher calls and asks, I guess you are obligated to say yes. So that took 40 minutes out of my already busy day. Then when I went to drop off a few seminary gifts to students who hadn't come (I had bought cute mini Nutella jars and had attached a tag that said "spread peace") I had a mom talk my ear off. She is definitely in need of friends but she is a lot of drama that I don't really want to take on. After all that I was finally able to work on taking down Christmas, and getting all things ready for us to head out to AZ that night. Somehow I managed to get everything done.

After dinner we headed to the airport. Tyler dropped off me, Steven, Lucy and Penny- he would be driving to AZ Saturday with Ben so we could have a car and transport presents and homeschool books. Everything went really smoothly. We didn't have any bad lines, we arrived early enough that we had time to ride the tram to Chick-Fil-A and get some food and once on the plane we didn't have any problem finding a spot for our carry on and we didn't have any turbulence. The only drawback was that it was a late flight so we were all pooped. Penny was the only one who fell asleep on the flight and the poor thing got woken up when they came by for snacks a second time (surprisingly someone walking down the aisle and bumping her head hadn't woken her up). During the flight the people in front of me had their neck pillow fall back by me but apparently they were asleep because when I tried to hand it back no one took it so I had to awkwardly place it on them,

Friday I was tired from the late night and time change so we had a pretty chill day. Poppy took the kids to the library and Riparian Perserve. I stayed home and chatted with Grams and ordered some groceries. Then Grams and I went out to lunch and afterwards I went with her to her doctor's appointment. When we finished with her appt we picked up groceries and did a Target run so she could get some super expensive heart medicine that the doctor wanted her to get. I made dinner and after dinner we all watched "Love and Monsters." I forgot how many bad words were in it so maybe I should not have let the girls watch it but too late for that.

Saturday Steven and I went to see the latest Spiderman with Mike and Mecca. It was super entertaining but I personally think he could have saved a lot of heartache and pain for everyone involved if he had just pushed the dang button. Dad took us to Seagulls that afternoon and they had a lot of great books that could help with teaching the Old Testament in 2021. I had a hard time picking just one so the kids got pretty bored. Should've left them at home ;) Then we hung out at Mike and Mecca's house and I got to work on a puzzle with Mecca, it's been awhile since I have just sat and puzzled and chatted with a friend, it was nice.

Saturday evening we met up with the Hatch's at Melissa and Logan's house. They have a street in their neighborhood that goes all out with lights. It was a typical Hatch function. A lot of waiting on people with a gaggle of kids going crazy in the meantime. I wasn't super impressed but the kids had a blast and the weather was really nice so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. I took a grand total of 1 picture.

Santa, Graham Cracker Houses

Monday morning I took Lucy to the dentist to fix some fillings that had cracked (due to her ice eating) and she also had a lovely black spot appear on another tooth after her dental check up that we wanted to get checked out. Thankfully they said the black spot was just filing composite, probably from the ring she had on the tooth for a spacer. We had one of the new dentists at the office fix the broken fillings and he was quite the character. Apparently he is very into using weird conversation to distract from the uncomfortableness of getting teeth fixed. He talked to her about all the things- how Johnny Cash is the man, that he became a dentist in fourth grade, he pretended to not know how to count, he told her how he hates the dentist and that he painted his nails once....She thought he was a hoot and I really think this technique worked well for her. She squirmed and complained some but she never spiraled like she tends to do.

Monday afternoon I took the kids to the Bass Pro Shop to see Santa. I had been hesitant because I thought they had that weird plastic sheild up (because of Covid) but they didn't. They just had the kids sit on a bench in front of Santa. We had to reserve a time online which was awesome because then we had a very short wait. Afterwards we lucked out because there was no one in line behind us so Santa had the kids turn around and chat with him. They talked about Christmas decorations and the gifts they wanted. Santa said he should leave some bubble wrap with a bike for Lucy so she doesn't get hurt and he also told the kids not to leave any Lego's on the floor that could hurt his feet. They enjoyed talking to Santa.

Tuesday I attempted to find gifts for our seminary students so we can do a little gift exchange but that was quite the challenge. I don't think there are many things that teens like that are actually cheap. I mostly ended up just getting junk food. Tuesday night I had Bunco. Bunco in December is always fun because we shake things up and don't actually play Bunco. This year we did a sock exchange and played the saran wrap ball game. For the sock exchange, everyone stuffed a sock with a goodie and then we put them on a table and took turns picking (or stealing). I ended up being last to pick which was a great spot because I had my choice of everything. But the embarassing thing was that the socks I had bought were literally the last ones left on the table. They did sort of look like men's socks but they felt super comfy. I ended up stealing someone else's socks because I didn't want to end up with my own, that felt weird. The Saran Wrap Game is always fun but it kind of felt like it was super long- I was feeling extra tired that night. I ended up unwrapping a few fun things to take home (nail polish, hand sanitizer, hot chocolate...). Afterwards we had some dessert, took some pictures and headed home.

Wednesday Lucy and I got our hair cut. Well Lucy just got at trim but I actually cut off a good chunk of hair and got some layers- not that anyone noticed. I am not in love with the haircut but it does feel lighter and that's kind of nice. 

Thursday after dinner the kids went and bought Christmas gifts for each other. I took the girls to get gifts for the boys and Tyler took the boys to get gifts for the girls. The girls were insistent on getting Ben a Beanie Boo so we went to Joann's because they have a good selection but we ended up in a long line with only one cashier on duty. One cashier who was sooooo slow. We waited in line for 30 mins just to buy one Beanie Boo. This left me pretty aggrevated and I didn't so much enjoy the rest of the night.

Friday the kids and I delivered gifts to neighbors and friends. This year we gave puzzles/games- more than I usually spend but I hate giving food gifts and I am running out of fun ideas. For the most part I think our gifts were appreciated, Caroline just acted a little funny when we came to drop ours off. She did not seem to want us to linger at all...oh well...

Friday night was Lucy's volleyball game. I have really enjoyed volleyball night because Jenna is on Lucy's team and her whole family comes as well. It's been nice to hang out with them and watch Lucy's serve improve. Next week is the last week and that makes me sad.

Saturday morning Tyler and I went to the temple. I was feeling super anxious about it because it had been awhile since I had been and I felt like I forgot how to do everthing. So the anxiety prevented me from feeling the spirit as much as I usually do. I really wish it wasn't so difficult to get into the temple these days. I feel better about it when I go more regularly. While we were at the temple some crazy wind blew a tree into a power line and started a fire in our neighborhood. Thankfully we have a fire station across the street and only a couple sheds were damaged. Also thankfully the fire was not near our home. But that lovely accident did cause our power to go out. We were going to do graham cracker houses that evening with friends but decided to reschedule because we weren't sure when the power would come back on. Of course, right when we rescheduled the power came back on. But we decided not to change it again. Instead, Saturday evening, I had Caroline and Melissa over for a puzzle night. It was a pretty good evening and we had a lot of laughs over Caroline commenting that "The squirrels are getting fat". It had to do with the crazy weather but it came out so random. Pretty sure that will be a catch phrase in our friendship for a long while. 

Snow, Getting Crafty, Christmas Show

Sunday the kids seemed unphased by having such a late night. They all woke up energized after only 4 hours of sleep and then they spent the whole day outside building snowmen and rolling giant balls of snow and just having all kinds of snow fun. I personally feel like there has already been way too much snow before winter has even started.

Monday we got back to life, starting our day off with Seminary again. Tyler was teaching the first few days of this week and his lessons were a bit slow moving and the kids were a bit inattentive. I even struggled a bit. In addition to the slowness, I have noticed cell phones out more. We have one kid in particular who is always playing games on his phone. On Tuesday when we met with the Seminary Coordinator, we asked for advice with cell phones and he just suggested positive reinforcement. We tried it on Wednesday. I set a timer for an unkown amount of time and I told them when it went off anyone who wasn't on their phone would get 5 tickets (we will be having an auction using the tickets before we go on break). Well this kid got off his phone, proceeded to count what tickets he had and then went back on his phone. Obviously he decided he didn't need more tickets. Whatever. Honestly these tickets only seem to work on the kids that are already good. The others just don't care. It's a struggle.

Tuesday was a really awful day for Michigan. At Oxford High School, about an hour from us, there was a school shooting. 4 students died, 7 were injured. Since our school program partners with Oxford Public Schools (basically Oxford provides our funding), I recieved the emails that day stating that there was an active emergency and then it came back clarifying an active shooter. I can't even with how scary that would've been if my kids attended that school. It has made me really anxious about sending Steven to high school next year. I really wish this hybrid program continued into high school. 

Wednesday there was still school and life went on as normal. Lucy had volleyball practice and then her church activity where she made some ornaments. Steven did a cooking activity. These were both at seperate locations which made life difficult for us since we only have 1 car. I really wish they would just hold everything at the church again.

Thursday morning, as I was trying to get myself out of bed for seminary, I noticed a bunch of missed text messages. Apparently due to some threats of violence school was cancelled and people wanted to know if we would be having seminary. I quickly sent out a barrage of texts cancelling seminary, with my half awake brain, but apparently 2 students still showed up. Thankfully they saw the dark house and left but I feel pretty badly that they made the effort for nothing. Hopefully I will do better at alerting everyone next time. Pretty much every school in Michigan was cancelled Thursday, except for my kids' school. Maybe I shouldn't but I just feel so much more comfortable sending my kids to this hybrid homeschool. You just know that most of these kids have great parental support and with the smaller class sizes, it's easier for teachers to know the students. Maybe I shouldn't feel so secure with their school but I do.

Friday school was cancelled again for our seminary kids so we ended up cancelling seminary again but this time there was a much bigger heads up so we were able to alert everyone Thursday afternoon. Friday afternoon I took the kids to a homeschool craft day that we had signed up for. It wasn't a super long activity but I think the kids enjoyed their crafts. Lucy made beaded pens and a wooden nativity. Penny made a tissue paper Christmas tree and a wooden nativity. Steven and Ben both made a string art ornament and a glass bowl snowman. I only took one picture there so I tried to take a few more when we got home of the crafts they made.

Friday evening, in an effort to get over my issues with baby related things, I went to a baby shower for someone in my ward. I didn't view us as super good friends but somehow I made the invite list. It went ok. I worked on focusing on the 4 healthy pregnancies that I have had and I worked on enjoying the really good food they had there. 

Saturday our neighbors took us to their church's Christmas Show- The Glory of Christmas. When we got there an elf stopped by and took down our kids' names and what they wanted for Christmas. Later Penny's name was mentioned in the show as one of the kids on Santa's list. She felt pretty special. The first half of the show was just holiday songs and the second half was the Christ part. The whole thing was wicked extravagent. There were dancers, amazing singers, people wired down from the ceiling, fire juggling, ice skating, live animals, flashing lights, confetti and snow coming down from the ceiling...so much show to it. It sort of kills the specialness of the Christmas story but it was most definitely entertaining and memorable. It was really kind of our neighbors to not only invite us but pay for our tickets. She always talks about how she feels like she owes us for all that we do but I feel like we owe them for all that they do. We are really blessed to have such great neighbors.

Missouri and Nauvoo

 Tyler came back in town from his sister's birthday party Sunday after church. This time I had my phone so no getting lost but the traffic at the terminal to pick him up was insane. I got directed into a lane and then it didn't move. I finally called Tyler and asked him to just walk out to  me. Once he got in the car, the police men then helped us get out of there. Tyler said most of the cars by the doors were parked and waiting. Seems like the better way to have done it would have been to tell those cars to go to a cell phone lot and clear them out. Not a fan of the North Terminal. 

Monday was spent finishing up school work, packing for our trip and running some last minute errands. However, that evening we had some fun and went as a family to watch "Ghostbusters: Afterlife." For a sequel it was really well done and everyone enjoyed it. There was some language, some scary parts and some sexual innuendos that went over the kids heads but it honestly felt cleaner than the originals. Not perfect for kids but I didn't feel too terrible about letting them watch it.

Tuesday after Seminary we headed out to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving with Tyler's sister Mariah and her family. The drive there went smoothly and somehow, even with all our stops we still made it there at the eta that Google gave us in the beginning. We got there just in time for pizza and enjoyed chatting and catching up. Then we even got a visit from their local missionaries and had a nice lesson on gratitude.

Wednesday was a pretty chill day. We all went to a nearby playground where the kids had a blast while the grown up chatted (and I shivered- boo to the cold!). Then we had an epic adventure at their local grocery store with all our kids (6 total). It was a little grocery store and our kids pretty much were moving road blocks. Not everyone appreciated our crazy but thankfully we only had a few things left to get for Thanksgiving dinner. Then that afternoon we basically just hung out. The kids enjoyed having playing Smash Brothers and Mario Kart with their Uncle Jeff and their cousin Jessie. Their cousin Red thought he was playing but his controller was never actually connected ;)

Thursday was Thanksgiving so it involved lots of cooking and dishes. I did the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and macaroni and cheese. Tyler did the Turkey, Green Beans and his "Christmas Punch". Mariah did the rolls (which turned out way better than mine ever have), the stuffing and the gravy. About lunchtime the kids were restless and it was super cold outside so we attempted to go walk Walmart, but it was closed. So instead we took our moving road block back to the local grocery store. It was worth it. They needed to get out. A couple hours after that it was feast time! With all our combined efforts it was a really good meal. Later on we topped everything off with some pie- Cookies and Cream seemed to be the favorite of all my kids.

Friday was cold again so we decided it probably would be best not to be cooped up all day so we drove out to Columbia. It was an hour and a half drive and when we were only 30 mins out Steven started freaking out because he needed to pee. Tyler was frustrated because then we lost his sister, who we had been following. It was a lot of drama. We ended up eating lunch at seperate places and then meeting back up with them at Tiger Bounce. The kids had a blast a Tiger Bounce. It was a kind of hodge podge of different kid things- bounce houses, indoor playgrounds and a skating rink. All of our kids attempted roller skating (Mariah's kids are too young). It was quite fun to watch them attempt to skate. Ben really started to get it and did well- he is definitely our sportier kid. Steven got really frustrated with it and whiney but eventually sort of got it. It took the girls awhile to let go of the walker but eventually they started to be able to go small distances without falling.

After Tiger Bounce we went to Target and the mall for a quick second and then headed back to their house. On our way back to their house, the surburban was making weird noises but Tyler just couldn't pin point what was going on. When we got back to their house we enjoyed Thanksgiving leftovers, and watched a movie with the kids and then stayed up chatting with Mariah and Jeff.

Saturday we said goodbye to Mariah's family which was sad. It had been nice getting to hang with them and they had been such good hosts (constantly making us yummy food- they even made us breakfast every morning). Their kids Red and Jessie were lots of fun and they had really taken to their Uncle Tyler so they were pretty sad to have him leave...not sure if they were sad about the rest of us ;) 

On our way home we stopped in Nauvoo and Carthage. There wasn't enough time to do all the things but we got to do some. We hit up the visitor's center where the kids did a scavenger hunt and got a brick. Then we went on a carriage ride. It was super cold and not too exciting for the kids. They just took us through the back roads while they told us stories about various people who lived in Nauvoo. But Penny enjoyed getting to pet the horses afterwards.

Next we did the Trades Tour where we learned about the Baker, the Tinsmith and the Gunsmith. Tyler was definitely most excited to see all the John Browning guns they had on display and to see some of the tools he used to make them. He probably could have spent much longer there.

Our second and final tour was the Pioneer Tour. In this one we saw Brigham Young's home (learned about his poor wife rowing across the Mississippi river with a baby strapped to her), and then we saw how wagon wheels were made and got to see a Blacksmith in action. The Blacksmith was really funny and the kids especially loved this one. He made a horse shoe for a "fairy pony" and the kids all got to keep one. The last stop of the tour was at the congregation hall.

After this we walked the ground of the Nauvoo Temple. It is such a beautiful temple.

Our last stop in Nauvoo was at a gift shop in town- it was such a ghost town, it was eerie. The kids all got a little something. Steven got a pocket watch, Ben got a small metal gun (he says it is the perfect size for his dolls), Lucy got a bear with a Nauvoo shirt and Penny got a small plastic horse. 

Then we headed to Carthage Jail. We made it just in time to get the last tour. We had a really powerful moment singing "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" in the room where Joseph and Hyrum Smith died. To me it felt like a choir singing, even though there was just a few of us. It was beautiful. And then the nice spirit got interrupted by two large families coming in. Oh well, they didn't want to miss the tour either. 

We hadn't eaten lunch because there wasn't really anywhere to eat in Nauvoo so after the Carthage Jail tour we had a very late lunch/early dinner. Then it was time to make the 7.5 hour journey back to Michigan. It was going to be a long night- our ETA was 2am but it ended up being even longer. Not only did the kids have to pee every hour but at 12:30am, when we were about 2 hours away from home (in Battle Creek, MI) the noise the Surburban had been making previously got crazier and it started driving weird. Thankfully there was a rest area right as this happened so Tyler pulled over. After some looking and jacking up the car, he realized that a wheel bearing was about to die. This meant we were not driving the Surburban home. I did my best not to panic on the outside but I was all kinds of panicking on the inside. 

We first called our insurance because they offer roadside assistance but apparently they only offer it for accidents. Since it wasn't an accident they would only pay to tow us 20 miles and we were 114 miles from home. Their tow truck also only had capacity for 2 people. They told us to check into an uber. So our next thought was for the kids and I to get an Uber to a hotel and Tyler would pay the absorbent fee to be towed home and then come pick us up later. Unfortunately there were no ubers available, no lyfts available, no taxis available. So we went out on a limb and called a towing company. Blessing of all blessings they could fit all 6 of us and tow us home for cheaper than our insurance was going to. Thankfully they also were not super far out. So we all squeezed into a tow truck and made it home by 4am. It was quite a long night, in which the kids did not sleep, and yet they still woke up at 8am. Here's the picture of the kids showing their excitement for waiting for a tow truck ;)

Things

On Monday Lucy had her annual check up. Her Doctor was running behind because apparently the person before us had come in late and brought a binder. Lucy's doctor admitted that that kind of threw her off her groove. I hope we helped get her back on her groove by not being complicated. I just complained about Lucy's desire to chew on all the things (currently it's ice). She said it's probably just a nervous habit but we are welcome to take her in for a blood test to make sure there's no deficiencies. However the way Lucy panicked and burrowed into me for her flu shot, does not make me want to take her in for an elective blood draw.

Monday evening Jacob was over and it was fun to watch all the kids play a game nicely together. They had seperated the stuffed animals into teams and were having them do all sorts of contests. There was a cooking contest in which they were all different judges (that were clearly based on shows they've seen) and there was a drawing contest in which I was quite impressed with all their artistic skills. It was fun to overhear them playing.

Tuesday I was grateful for a day in which I had no projects and wasn't hosting anything so I could just take care of neglected things. I ran some errands, did a Salvation Army run, picked up an awesome doll bed for the girls for just $5, and went through the massive amount of junk the boys had been storing under their beds and in the basement. The boys did not appreciate my efforts- Steven especially is quite the hoarder- but I felt better, at least for the one day that everything felt clean and organized. 

Wednesday the kids all had their dentist appointment. No cavities but Lucy has cracked two of her fillings from all her ice chewing and will have to go get them fixed. I struggle with stopping her from chewing on the ice because it's way better than other things she has chewed on before. Maybe I should get her blood drawn...That evening Lucy had Volleyball practice and then I had to take her and Steven to the church for activities. Steven's activity involved eating gross things and would you believe he ate a snail!? He was not a fan.

Thursday morning we had the pleasure of giving a lesson on a political section in D&C. It is hard to listen to how messed up our youth are about politics. We had one basically telling us it is more important to have a president that looks good than a president that has good policies. You can tell how much media has influenced them. I hope at the end I at least got them to realize they need to research things for themselves and put prayer into the equation. 

Thursday afternoon Tyler left to Arizona for his sister's 40th birthday. They are not that good of friends so he is trying to reach out an olive branch I suppose....a $500 olive branch because flights are pricey again. I think though that after my several trips this year without him or kids, he wanted a break of his own. I don't blame him. The kids have been in fine irritating form this week. Lots of button pushing. Taking him to the airport was an adventure in itself. I forgot my phone (because we picked up the kids from school first, it took me a bit to notice) so I had to google directions on his phone and do my best to remember them, It gave me a lot of anxiety. Traffic was also awful. I was in the car with the kids for almost 2 hours. And on top of it all we finished the story they were listening to on the way to the airport so I had no more entertainment for them. Not my favorite my part of the week.

That evening I left the kids to meet some friends at Cheesecake Factory. I was little worried about leaving them home alone at night but they did great, no issues. Cheesecake Factory was a nice outing, even if I always replay what I said later and then wonder why I am such a weirdo. We had about an hour wait for a table and then another hour wait for the food but that just meant more time to socialize and the food was delicious as always. With Melissa still in young womens we talked about how things are going with the new YW Pres and it sounds like all the work I had done to get the program running right has been derailed. It's really depressing.

Friday Caroline took my 3 youngest to the temple to video them walking around for a music video she is making for stake conference. I had the two teens (David and Steven) but I sent them out to Seven Eleven and enjoyed a quiet house for awhile. It was nice. I was going to be productive but I ended up taking a power nap instead. That evening Lucy had a volleyball match and she did way better than last week, she really went for the ball. Her team once again won 2 out of the 3 matches. 

Saturday the girls and I went to see "Once Upon a Mattress." I think the inappropriate stuff flew over their heads (like the "man to man" talk that was had) and they did pretty good with the long sitting time. I'm not sure it was quite Lucy's thing but Penny loved it. She told me afterwards that it was way better than she expected (I guess she had low expectations?). Penny really loved the song "Quiet" and the nightingale. It was also nice to be able to support Abbie, even if I am no longer in Young Womens with her.

In the evening the girls went to a friends house for a movie night and I played the Nintendo Switch with the boys. I have been frustrated with Steven all week and was still feeling blah when we first started playing but near the end I let go and we had a good time. I think Steven and I really needed that. And bless Ben's sweet heart for always telling me I'm doing good in the games, even though I am totally not. He is very sweet and supportive. He'll make a good husband someday.

Belle Isle

After a cold spell, Monday was a warm day so when the kids finished their school work, we walked down to seven eleven and got slushies. Then we went to a nearby park to enjoy them. We had some fun on the teeter toter, the kids attempting to lift me up but most of the time I had the advantage. Lucy suffered a minor tragedy and spilled some of her slushie. When they were done with their slushies, we went to the library and got some books. I really enjoy these outings with the kids. I know I should probably do better at arranging things with friends for the kids, they do like to socialize, but I really like our outings as just us. They are much more chill.

Tuesday I was hosting Bunco so I basically spent the day getting the house and food ready. Since it's November I did a Thanksgiving theme and Tyler was nice enough to do the turkey (although I helped a tiny bit with choppping spices). I really am not a fan of hosting. I always worry about all the things and just feel anxious and uncomfortable. But everyone was really nice and said they enjoyed the food and they all dug into the mini pies I made at the end. I did not win any prizes but that's ok, it always feels weird to win at your own house anyways. I did have a moment during Bunco where I laughed until I cried over the caramel candy I had out that basically stuck your teeth together and prevented socializing. For some reason Melissa and I found it super hilarious, only she didn't do the ugly laugh cry I did. I am such a weirdo.

Wednesday was fairly warm (although not as warm as Monday) and we did another walk- this time just to the library. While I was at the library I saw a homeschool family that I had met when Penny was doing speech therapy. I thought about saying hello but it had been sooo long since I had seen them that I decided to just not make eye contact with them. I hate awkward encounters so I probably make them more awkward by avoiding them. After our walk to the library, I drove down to Long's with the girls to get some doughnuts because they just sounded amazing. They were.

Thursday Tyler had off work for Veteran's Day and the kids were at school so we went out to lunch at a sit down place. Afterwards we picked up a couple games at Game Stop. I was attempting to relive my youth and thought I was getting a game that I had played when I was young but alas, it was not the same game. So disappointing. That evening we had a new family in the Ward over for dinner. They made quite the entrance by coming in with a dog that we thought was their dog. I was so weirded out, like why would they bring their dog?? And panicking a bit as I thought of all the things that it could destroy. Turns out it had been wandering our yard so they thought it was ours. I was more than happy to release it back outside. I hope it found its home, it didn't have a tag. Anyways this family has 3 little ones so they are in a much different stage of life than us but they are nice people. 

Friday morning Tyler and I had the pleasure of talking about plural marriage with our seminary class. I was struggling so I did a lot of research and ended up finding a podcast that had some great insight. It talked about the sacrafice Nephi made (killing Laban) and the sacrafice Abraham was asked to make (killing his son) and how it was a similar sacrafice, it felt like it went against taught values. It also talked about how these were not 2D people and how it was important to hear their stories. So I bought the book "A House Full of Females" which is supposed to give first hand accounts of polygamy. So far it's given a lot of church history but it's still been an interesting read. I feel like my feelings on plural marriage are still a work in progress but some understanding is coming. 

Friday after we did our school work, we drove out to Belle Isle. I wanted to see the newly remodeled aquarium but it didn't seem to be much different from before the remodel. Still the kids had a good time. They actually had fun learning about the different fish and were most intrigued with the garden eels and axolotl and also the fish that keeps its babies in its mouth. Lucy was really surprised that an axolotl was real. They have them in Minecraft and I guess she thought they were made up creatures because she asked me when they were created. 

After the Aquarium we went to the Conservatory that's next door. The kids liked hiding underneath the giant leaves and Ben thought the tree he is standing by looked like it had eyeballs all over its trunk

After our good times on Belle Isle we hit up the Detroit Cookie Co on our way home. On the way there Google took us through some pretty sketchy neighborhoods and I was grateful my car didn't decide to shut down on me (it's had the check engine symbol on for the last few days) and ironically after we had our yummy cookies, Google took us through this beautiful, historic neighborhood. Such a contrast between poverty and wealth. I am pretty grateful just for my middle class status. 

Friday evening Lucy had her second volleyball game. I feel like she was a little bit more shy of the ball this time around- maybe because she realized it hurts to hit it? But her team still won. Although she tells me it doesn't matter if she wins, it's all about learning how to play. They have really pushed that message.

Saturday was a low key day. Errands in the morning, one of the kids had a friend over in the afternoon, and we ended the day watching "Just Add Magic" on Amazon Prime. 

November Begins

Sunday was Halloween but I failed to take any good photos. It was cold and ended up sprinkling on the kids. Steven went to Milford with Max and David. The rest of the kids went trick or treating here with the younger 3 May kids. Tyler and Caroline's husband were nice and went out with the kids. Caroline and I stayed home and chatted while we passed out candy. Once again I ran short on the full size candy bars and ended up having to scrounge up things- a super old bag of Smarties and some Twinkies from the basement. Kind of a bummer for the hand full of kids that came after the good stuff ran out. I guess if I want to do full size candy bars next year I will need to buy more. 

Monday was Lucy's nineth birthday. Since she already had her party and cake it was a fairly low key day. She started off opening all her presents (at 7am sharp). Our big present to her was the ear piercing but we did get her 2 Minecraft Minifugres and one more pair of earrings (unicorns). Grams Hatch got her a huge pack of Roblox figures. Grams Brady got her a Beanie Boo and gave her some cash. And Ben got her one Roblox minifigure and a Minecraft Minifigure.

After Lucy finished her school work, her dad took her out to KFC for lunch. Next I took her (and Penny) to the mall so she could spend the Claire's giftcard that Peter had got her. She ended up getting a Beanie Boo with it and a Unicorn Pop-it. Then we went to food court and got milkshakes. After that the girls were actually able to play at the play area- it was finally open! 

For dinner she was content to have potatoe soup and we wrapped up her special day finishing off Season 2 of Lego Masters. She said it was her best birthday ever so I'll take that at as a win.

This week my project was to move out the stuff by the front door so we could get the lockers set up- mission accomplished! And I even sold the desk that was there. I also tried to decorate the top with things we had on hand to make it more homey. Still want to add some things but I have to find things that won't fall off and break. So far I am really happy with the lockers. They hide the kids crap perfectly.

Wednesday night Lucy had volleyball practice and Activity Days. Lots of picking up and dropping off but she's the only one doing a sport right now so I can handle one busy night. After I dropped her off at her activity I strolled Salvation Army- I do love thrift shops. I ended up finding an extra small but extra cute nutcracker. It will be a great addition to my collection.

Thursday night we went and saw our Seminary Student, Dean, again. He's the one who owns a flock of birds. I do love finger trained birds, they are so fun. His birds also talk and they can whistle the Star Wars song. Tyler and I are talking about getting one but I just don't know. As an adult I'm not sure I can handle the feathers and poop everywhere. Plus it's cold here and I am not sure where I'd put one. But it was a really fun visit.

Also on Thursday my kids made these lovely masks at school and kept scaring me with them. First I was driving along and spotted Lucy wearing hers in the rearview mirror. Then I was going to the bathroom and when I opened the door, there Lucy was, wearing the mask and freaking me out. 

So to counteract the creepy masks, I will show a picture of the girls making Poppy proud and wearing their jean jackets to school. Apparently snow jackets are "uncool" so the jean jackets are winning lately.

Friday night Lucy had her first volleyball game (after just one practice). The coach had us come early for no apparent reason. We ended up just waiting in the halls the whole time we were there early BUT Jenna is in volleyball with Lucy so it was nice to be able to chat with her family and catch up with them. I'm going to enjoy hanging out with them on Friday nights. The girls also played surprisingly well. I really thought it was going to be more a train wreck than it ended up being. Lucy actually hit the ball several times and even got it over the net when she served. Her team also won so that was awesome.

Saturday Steven worked hard so he could earn the rest of the money he needed to buy his Nintendo Switch. He is pretty happy that he finally was able to get it.