IKEA, Dinged Doors & Crummy Teeth

Well we had a nice surprise this week when Tyler came home from being up North on Sunday instead of Monday. We have had such weird, warm weather here that the tracks were too slushy for Tyler to test his vehicle on so he came home early. Unfortunately he just found out yesterday that he has to go back up North Monday, Boo! The weather has been cooling back down these past couple of days and we have been getting some fun snow flurries but no major snow yet.

With Tyler off Monday we decided to take a trip out to IKEA because we have been wanting to look at TV stands (since ours is falling to pieces) and get some ideas of what we might want. Tyler thinks he'll build us one, we'll see how that goes. I remember the LONG, grueling process of him building our dining room table still. We also got some new dishes at IKEA which I am super happy about. Our plastic plates had seen much better days and we didn't have enough nice plates for company so we got some new dishes for the kids and a new set of dishes for adults at rocking IKEA prices- seriously such good deals! We ended our excursion with slushies and cinnamon rolls, it was good day.

Tuesday Tyler watched the kids while I subbed for a preschool class. It was actually one of my easiest sub jobs. I had an aide who knew the routine and the kids and did a lot and the kids mostly just played the whole time- easy peasy! Probably the only hard part of the day was "rest time" because about half of the kids had no interest in resting during that time and instead kept wanting to get in trouble. When I came home from subbing I found out the girls had sprayed air freshener in each other's hair so their hair was crispy and awful looking but it smelled great, ha ha! I should've taken a picture!

Wednesday was a rough day. Lucy had a dentist appointment and when I got there I parked way too close to a car. Lucy, of course, pushed open her door hard and dinged their car. The people were in it so I slowly unloaded Penny and waited for them to come out and look. They didn't so as I started to go into the office, I made eye contact with the lady in the car and mouthed I am sorry. She kind of waved me away so I thought I was good. I was not. When I was back in the room and they were looking over Lucy's teeth, I had a front office lady come and ask me if I drove a Black Chevy Traverse. I was in trouble, the driver wanted all my info. I was so embarrassed and I don't know why, but I got super emotional and when I got back to the room I started to cry. Double embarrassing. The hygienist who was working with Lucy was so nice to me. She gave me a cup of water and said all kinds of nice things and I could tell she is obviously really good with kids since I was acting like one. I am so grateful for her kindness when I was being a silly ninny.

After my emotional bout the dentist came back and delivered the bad news that Lucy did not have just one cavity to be filled but she had 5. I am not sure how one office can say 1 and another can say 5 but because I would rather fix it then be sorry I agreed to everything. Next month Lucy is going to go in and get some laughing gas and then get 5 fillings- I hope the laughing gas works! And I hope the dentist appreciates all the cars and boats we are buying them. Because all our kids' teeth are falling apart, Tyler has instituted a new rule that the kids only get after dinner treats on the weekend- we'll see how long that lasts!

Wednesday night I had book club planning meeting and learned that I have pretty trashy taste in books. Everyone was listing off, deep thoughtful books and when I listed off my one light, funny, romantic read it was the only book that did not make it on the list- literally. Totally ignored. And they didn't even come back to me to ask for more recommendations. I so didn't feel the love. I am seriously not a fan of group things, I always feel so invisible.

Thursday Steven's teacher asked if I could sub for her that afternoon. She said all these nice things about how good I was and how she didn't want a random sub so I hated to say no to her (it pays to compliment people). After asking literally 6 people if they could watch my girls and being rejected (it seems everyone was doing last minute visiting teaching), I asked the ladies at my primary presidency meeting and one kindly said yes- life saver. 

Steven's class actually did really well that afternoon because I implemented some bribery (I passed out tickets and drew names for prizes at the end of the day). Unfortunately when they rotated classes in the afternoon, the other 2 third grade classes that I taught did HORRIBLE. I may just have to do the tickets for them if I sub for Steven's teacher again. It was an exhausting day.

Friday made up for a long week. It consisted of hanging with a friend in the morning and reading in the afternoon. Then that evening Tyler took Steven on a camp out with his Scouts and I got a babysitter and went solo to a friend's birthday party. I was the only one without my spouse but I ended up having a good time. We played "Watch Ya Mouth" which must have been made up by a dentist. You put this thing in your mouth that stretches it open and then you have to read a phrase and your team has to figure out what you are saying. I totally bombed it my first time because I got too giggly but then I got randomly chosen to do the tie breaker and I did pretty good. I got 9 phrases guessed, unfortunately the other team got 11 so we didn't win but at least I didn't loose royally. Anyways Friday was an all around good day.

And Funny story, I was writing my talk for Sunday and I wanted to start it with a quote from Ben: "It doesn't really taste good but it's yummy" And then I wanted to do a similar quote to express my feelings about giving a church talk so I asked Ben how I could do that and he said, "Just say 'I'm a chicken!'" Ha ha, nailed it! I am a total chicken when it comes to church talks! 

Museum, Donuts, Indoor Playground

First off, news on Tyler's winter testing this year. They forgot to order him a vehicle to test, so he has to borrow one and that has made his schedule really weird. Last week he left on a Thursday and drove back on Monday (MLK Day). Then he had Tuesday and Wednesday off since he was working through the weekend. And now he has left again on a Thursday and will be once again coming back on Monday. After these 2 weird weeks, he should just be gone the usual Monday-Friday and I am hopeful for that. It is really hard to have him gone on the weekends when all the kids are home. It is also challenging to do church completely alone.

So since Monday was MLK Day, there was no school, so we celebrated by meeting some friends at the Henry Ford Museum. The Museum was having a free admission day which meant it was super busy. The kids didn't mind one bit, they still had fun! I did mind, though. I had a hard time keeping track of all 4 of them, especially Lucy. She kept going different directions then everyone else or she would just get pokey. As we were walking to the food court to eat lunch I thought she was right beside me until my friend asked where she was. She was WAY behind us sitting on a bench. I am thankful for my friend because I seriously almost lost her.

The kids spent the most time at the LEGO stations (there's one with little LEGO's and one with the DUPLO LEGO's): 

That day we got lots of rain and that night it all froze to make for some super icy roads. They cancelled school Tuesday because of the icy roads. It turned our 3 day weekend into a 4 day weekend which was made crummy with Tyler being gone most of it. He came back in town Monday afternoon and then spent his day off on Tuesday putting in a water heater for someone in the Ward. So yeah-- long 4 day weekend with the kids *sigh*.

With Tyler off on Wednesday (and not installing a water heater) we decided I would sub that day. I had one of the easiest sub jobs ever! I subbed for a resource teacher classroom and never had more than 5 kids at a time. She had me put most of the kids on the computer to practice reading and math and then a lot of the kids just came to her room for learning breaks. Seriously a ridiculously slow and easy day. I wish they could all be like that!

Thursday we watched Lucy's friend Peter and since the weather was unseasonably warm, we took a walk down to the bakery and got some sprinkle donuts. Penny was hilarious and worked very slowly at eating all the sprinkles and icing off first...

Thursday night, Steven's teacher sent me an email, asking me to sub for her Friday. I wasn't planning on doing another sub job but since it went well the last time and I usually like being with my kids, I decided to do it. I regret that decision. Steven was a complete stinker to me that morning and his behavior continued while I was his guest teacher. The other kids were not any better. They were really rowdy and not great listeners at all. It was such a long, challenging day... 

And then I came home and needed groceries. I had been planning on doing that with just the girls that morning but since I subbed I ended up taking all of them by myself (since Tyler is out of town) and ugh, double exhausting. I made the mistake of filling a water jug and when I set it back in the cart, I sat it on top of a box of band aides. When I was unloading the groceries, I found the stolen *squashed* box of band aides and had to run back in the store with all the kids and buy it. Super fun.

Today, Saturday, has kind of made up for the not so good Friday. Some friends had told me about this church that has an indoor playground and soccer field and I decided it was time to go check it out. I am so glad I did! The indoor playground was like a McDonald's playground on steroids. It had two different levels and was so fun. And the boys were so sweet, they totally took Penny under their wings and helped her climbing in the tunnels and up any stairs. They all had so much fun:

After lots of playing they were super thirsty so we got some juice from the cafe and re-hydrated:

When we finished the juice it was lunchtime so I thought we would do a quick run in the soccer field and then go home but we ended up spending a lot of time in the field. The boys had so much fun kicking goals and the girls had fun too.

We could have spent a lot longer their but we were all in need of some food and I didn't feel like buying any so we headed home. It was a good day!

And I have really been practicing my calligraphy and I feel like I have been getting better so here is my latest work:

Developing Hobbies & Cub-Anapolis

This year I made a resolution to develop some hobbies since my life has pretty much been oriented around my kids during the day, and in my spare time, binge watching TV shows. So when I got a card from a friend with fancy writing I thought to myself, "Hey, I used to do fun handwriting when I scrapbooked, maybe I could take that up again." So with some hard earned work money, I bought myself some fancy brush pens and instead of merely rotting out my brains with TV at night, I have been working on writing fancy. I found some fun, pretty quotes on Pinterest that I did my best to copy and here are those results:

I do much better with the non-calligraphy writing. Calligraphy writing with brush pens is super tricky so I have found some practice worksheets and been spending time on those as well. I find that I am really enjoying trying to develop this new talent and I also find that I am staying up a bit too late with it but it's fun to have something new to do.

I also joined a free trial of a piano sheet music club so that I could buy some fun new piano music on the cheap. Best decision ever! I got some songs from the movie Moana, a couple of Lucy's favorite pop songs, and some 21 Pilot songs (which is Tyler's current favorite band). It's been fun learning to play songs that the kids (and Tyler) like so instead of them trying to come and bang some keys too, they tend to sing and dance along instead. I have enjoyed redeveloping this talent of mine! Now I just need to bite the bullet and get the piano tuned so it sounds prettier too, ha ha!

Onto other things, on Tuesday night Steven had his "Cub-Anapolis." With (a lot) of help from Tyler he made a Minecart with attached golden armor. They forgot the wheels and Tyler jimmy rigged it a little weird so that it didn't stay on perfectly but it still turned out pretty cool. (I failed to bring goggles and a helmet so he had to borrow some swim googles and his dad's beanie):

The event in itself was a lot of fun. The boys had a pit stop after every two laps. The pit stops went as follows: 1st- clean windshield (spray and wipe down goggles) 2nd- switch tires (take off shoes and switch socks- this was a horrible pit stop. His feet were SO sweaty and it was SO hard to get his socks on and off and he couldn't help because of the box, ugh.) 3rd- fuel up (drink a whole cup of water with a straw). 4th- photo op (comb hair 5 times and take picture). He didn't finish in first place but he had fun and his siblings got to borrow boxes and take turns running the track too so they had fun as well.

Thursday I did a crazy thing and took a half day sub job for a Kindergarten class at Kurtz. Seriously not sure what I was thinking. There were about 6 kids in that Kinder class that were just packed full of issues. There was one who thought the world was out to get her, another one who was at the constant edge of exploding, another one who seemed completely incapable of sitting, let alone working and who was constantly antagonizing the one who was about to explode... To make it even more fun the teacher was just doing testing next door so she would pop in sometimes to yell at the class and make me feel totally inadequate. Thankfully, when it was time for me to go, she came in and told me how great she thought I handled her difficult class. I was shocked because I was sure she was going to tell me to never come back. Instead she made me feel much better about it all and she even asked for my card. Flattery is bad for me because it caused me to give her my card when I would really rather never stop foot in that classroom again. I mean seriously, it was a ROUGH day.

Anyways, Tyler left Thursday for his first week of work up North. The kids did really well Thursday and Friday but then Saturday hit and now they are making me crazy. To add to it all, it's a 3 day weekend so I get 2 more days of all of them home and no husband. I hope I can survive!

Cold

My new sweatshirt described the way I felt about this week perfectly:

We have had some serious cold days this week (like one digit temperature days) and I am freaking cold! I just walk out to my car and my hands are numb! It's the worst!

Anyways, on to our week. As an anniversary present to me Tyler took the kids out so I could clean the house Monday morning. Best present ever right? That afternoon we had a babysitter for the kids so we could celebrate an early anniversary. First we went to lunch at Smoke Street. It's just a short walk from our house and I had still never eaten there but Tyler eats their all the time with his work friends and he wanted me to try it out too. It was messy BBQ food but it was good stuff. After that we revisited an awesome Rare&Used bookstore in Detroit. It had so many fun kids books that I wanted to get (yes I am a sucker for kids books) but I ended up just getting some Christmas ones for next year and a Barbie book for Lucy & Penny. When we were done perusing it was time to go home but I made Tyler stop and get us some Coldstone first. I felt properly stuffed afterwards but it was SO worth it! 

After our date I took Ben to a party at Chuck E Cheese. It was a party for a girl at church and he was the only boy there so he basically just hung out with me. It was like I took him on a mom/son date and I didn't have to pay for it, totally awesome! Ben had a blast and he loved that he didn't have to share tokens and tickets for once. When we got in the car he told me it was "the best day ever!" I love that sweet boy!

When we came home from the party things were not so good. Penny had caught a stomach bug that has been going around our Ward and had thrown up several times. She threw up on me when I got home and then a few more times that night. It was a rough night for her but the next morning she was all done with the sick. Unfortunately she turned into a crazy person and was kind of awful the rest of the week. Lots of meltdowns when things did not go her way. I even had to ban "Barbie" movies because she would get upset every time it was time to turn them off. It's Saturday and she still hasn't shown any improvement *sigh*

I was not planning on subbing this week because of her craziness but Ben's teacher asked me to sub Friday afternoon and I couldn't say no because I love subbing for his class. Once again I had a good time. The class for the most part listens well and the co-teacher taught a majority of the lessons so it was just a super smooth and easy day. The only hiccup was Ben wanting to be attached to me the ENTIRE time. I was sitting in the back helping managing kids while the other teacher was teaching and when I moved to go quiet down some talkers, Ben caused a big ruckus by climbing over people to follow me. Once again *sigh*

Friday night I went to a "Favorite Things" party. I am so bad in large social situations and I always worry afterwards that I totally embarrassed myself but...I mean it was fun right? Everyone brings 4 of their favorite things and then we draw names and we all end up going home with 4 other people's favorite things. I brought these scarfs that I got a super good deal on because that's just who I am and I didn't realize they were going to make us tell why these were our favorite things. Everyone had great reasons and big thinking behind their gifts and when it was my turn I was like, "Is it wrong that I got them because they were an awesome deal and I love good deals?" Everyone awkwardly laughed,ha ha. awesome. I also wrapped mine in kids Little Mermaid wrapping paper and everyone else had theirs all cutesy. So I am cool like that. Anyways I did end up going home with some fun stuff- I got slipper socks, Jamberry nail wraps (which I have to figure out how to use), an awesome question a day notebook and an Amazon gift card.

Funny story: I went to take out the garbage and nearly fell over a snow shovel that was on the ground. When I came back inside I asked, "Who tried to kill mom?" Penny, who is always quick to volunteer, shouted, "Me!!"

Random Pictures from today:

 The boys showing off the flowers Tyler got me for our anniversary:

Winter Break

Winter Break is definitely my favorite school break because Tyler gets off work which means we can do some fun things as a family. I have been really craving some Chick-Fil-A so on Tuesday we drove to Toledo to get some. It was so worth the drive! SO yummy and the kids had a fun time playing in the play place. I really wish they would open one closer!

After eating at Chick-Fil-A we headed home but on our way home we made a pit stop at Cabela's. The kids only wanted to see the fish but Tyler made them go look at camping supplies first. Of course since it was such an exhausting day of eating Chick-Fil-A and walking up the stairs to see the camping supplies, they had to take a break on a cot...

After the excruciating long walk through camping supplies they got to see the fish. They were all fascinated by the giant fish (pic on right below). At first they thought it was dead but it very slowly got closer and closer to the glass. Our turtle friend with ginormous claws was also there (no pic). The boys were super fascinated when they learned that turtles breathes air like us. They couldn't believe how long it can hold its breath for.

Wednesday we made a trip to the Henry Ford Museum, it was nice to have Tyler there this time. Our first stop was at the giant town of Lego's. We learned that it was made by a club of 20 guys- Tyler wants to join that club ;). Definitely his favorite exhibit! I think the kids' favorite exhibit of the day was the one showing silent movies. They thought they were so funny- can we just go back to those? No bad language, no inappropriateness, just fun slap stick humor! They also had fun building their own Lego things. I think my favorite thing was seeing the things of my youth in a glass case- ha ha! Nothing makes you feel like you are growing older than that!

Thursday night I went with my neighbor to see "Collateral Beauty". It was an emotional movie about a father who lost a 6 year old, a definite tear jerker. It was nice to get out though and hang with my neighbor. I learned that her and her husband just purchased some land by the post office and plan on building a home there. I am sad that I am going to lose them as a neighbor in a couple of years but I am glad they won't be far. Then again, who knows where we will be in two years...

Friday afternoon we took the kids to swim at Milford High. It had been awhile since we had been there so the kids were super excited to go. It, however, was not a pleasant experience for us adults. Getting all 6 of us out of our winter gear and into our swimsuits in a cramped changing room was a major challenge- especially when the floors are wet and you can't just put your clothes down on them. Then after an hour of play having to switch everyone back...it was downright exhausting. I also forgot a swim diaper for Penny and so we had her go commando and I kept praying that she wouldn't decide to poop in the pool- thankfully she didn't! Anyways, I don't think we'll be going back anytime soon.

Saturday afternoon I made a last minute decision to take the oldest 3 to see "Moana." It was an exciting movie and maybe a little too scary for Lucy. I think the boys enjoyed it though- they loved the coconut pirates best. I liked the music :)

After we got home we took baths and then did an early ring of the New Year using Netflix countdowns and chinking some sparkling cider in fancy cups- because that's what New Years is all about right?

And let's end 2016 with some funny moments:

One Sunday we got to talking about how I almost named Penny, Abigail. During this conversation Lucy decided she wanted a new name. She decided her new name would be Aliko. When Tyler asked her, "Lou? Why do you want to be named Aliko?" She yelled, "My name is not Lou!!! I am Aliko!!" The name change lasted one day and then she was back to being Lucy, ha ha!

Penny put on a dress and walked around singing (which sounds a lot like yelling) a song that involved the word "Barbie" a lot.

Steven couldn't find his Alex Lego figure (from Minecraft) and he was complaining about wanting it so he could play with it. Lucy sniggered, "You wanna play with a girl"

Lucy had a cut on her ankle and she showed it to me and informed me that she was dying. She went to get a band aide and Penny wanted one too (she had some dried blood on her which translated as an owie). She insisted that she get a band aide too and she insisted on putting it on herself. Here was the result (half stuck on her face, half on her hair):

Christmas Shenanigans

The week before Christmas was actually surprisingly fun filled and not stressful. Monday night for FHE we had 3 families over to decorate Gingerbread houses. In the past the kids have struggled to make the houses so this year Tyler was a trooper and pre-made 12 houses. All the kids (and a few of us grown ups) had fun decorating these houses with candy galore! Moments after these pictures were snapped all but Steven's house were back to just graham crackers. These kids of mine are such sugarholics. 

Wednesday night the kids made Christmas cards with candy canes and distributed them to random employees at Krogers. This was awkward because my kids are just as socially awkward as I am but it was a good opportunity for them to practice random acts of kindness. Even Penny gave the shopping cart attendant a card that she had scribbled on (Ben helped turn her scribbles into pictures).

Thursday was the last day of school before Winter Break for the boys. This meant party time! In the morning I helped out at Ben's Holiday Breakfast. I got to hand out food plates to kids in his class. One kid was upset with me because I didn't pick the marshmallow off her Santa Clause kabob. I politely told her that I am not a waitress and I don't do custom orders. She was not happy with my response. It was still a good time though. Ben is my sweet boy and he loved having me there.

That afternoon I had Steven's class party which I was basically in charge of. There was another lady there who planned the craft but she was very keen to let me know that the classroom was not her forte and that I could inform the kids on how to make the craft. Being in charge of third graders with Winter Break just an hour away and Christmas just days away was challenging. They were noisy and crazy and my "minute to win it" marshmallow games proved to be spectacularly messy. Steven's poor teacher was probably not very thrilled with all the marshmallows that were squished into her rug. I think the kids had fun though(except for my own stink pot child who made some rude comments about the whole affair). They got to make a Rudolph ornament, play the marshmallow games and then decorate a cupcake to look like Rudolph. Some of their Rudolph's looked nothing like Rudolph- Steven's had like 6 eyes, ha ha! 

Friday morning we celebrated the boy's first day of Winter Vacation by taking a walk down to Starbucks to get some hot cocoa. Lucy slipped on ice twice-- she's totally my child-- but I am pretty sure she felt that the chocolate goodness was way worth the falls. At Starbucks we took up 3 tables- sometimes I feel like a bit of a 3 ring circus when we are out in public-- but I am sure most people staring are just super envious of our crazy fun life ;)

I spent most of Friday afternoon and Saturday (Christmas Eve) cooking. I made sugar cookies for Santa, cinnamon rolls and my salsa for Christmas day and crescent rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and ham for our Christmas Eve dinner. Tyler made a giant bowl full of his family's famous Christmas punch that he contributed to our dinner. We had invited a family to join us but their oldest threw up that morning so they decided it would be best to skip out. So it was just us and lots of our favorite food. 

After we stuffed our faces we were too full to think about decorating Santa cookies so we decided to unwrap our new Christmas PJ's and take some pictures. This year I felt like getting Carter cutsie PJ's for the kids, I was worried that Steven would think his were too babyish but surprisingly he loved them and was very quick to point out that his PJ's said he was "Santa's helper." He was very concerned about getting presents from Santa (he has had a really rough month---actually a really rough year). I think he figured that if his PJ's said he was Santa's helper then he must be getting presents...

After the PJ pictures our appetites were restored and we decorated some cookies for Santa. This was a bad order of events- the kids got frosting all over the cute new PJ's. 

Ben was very into giving all his cookies chocolate chip smiles, Penny was very into eating every topping that was placed in front of her, Lucy covered herself in frosting (or so it seemed) and Steven is actually starting to be a pretty good cookie decorator.

After we decorated cookies we went for a drive to see Christmas lights and then it was time for bed. The kids all passed out pretty quickly so we didn't have to wait too long to get everything ready for the next morning. And the kids also did us a solid and did not come and wake us up early in the morning. We didn't go downstairs until 7:30 and that was just perfect for me. Lucky for Steven Santa had decided that Steven's last ditch attempts to be good were enough and he got his Christmas present. I had tried to scale back on Christmas presents this year but somehow I still think they all ended up being spoiled. 

Steven's favorite gifts were his Lego set and Geodes. 

Ben's favorite gifts were his Lego set and his poop piggy bank *ugh!* and his 3 little stuffed ocean animals. *In the picture he is sporting the mask that Lucy (aka me) made for him*

Penny's favorite gifts were ALL the Barbie things (slippers, toothbrush, movie, car...). 

Lucy's favorite gifts were her necklaces and her Cinderella castle Lego set.

Dad's favorite gift was the picture that Lucy had drawn for him (She drew one for each of us without prompting and hid them away. Christmas morning she took them out from under the stairs and passed one our to each of us.) His second favorite was his telegraph key because as of late he has become a full out nerd and been learning Morse code.

My favorite gifts were the pretty necklace and bracelet the kiss picked out for me and the "I am Freaking Cold" sweatshirt Tyler got me (Because seriously- I always am!)

After all the crazy of opening presents, we cleaned up the wrapping paper massacre, ate some cinnamon rolls and then got ready for church. Tyler had to leave to church early to help set up sacrament since we were combining with a Ward so I had to get the rest of us out the door which apparently was challenging. As I was finishing up getting ready, Penny walked in (in her pretty church dress) with a cinnamon roll squished in her hands and Lucy threw a tantrum because she wanted me to make mac n cheese immediately. Mom life is super fun but somehow we made it on time and somehow we survived our kids hyper antics, like Lucy dancing in the aisles. 

We took a picture after church to document that we survived:

  

The rest of our Christmas day was spent with the kids building their Lego's, eating unhealthy food, painting toenails and fingernails, video chatting with mi familia and just enjoying our Christmas day. Another Christmas down in the books!