December 27, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas! I love Christmas, it really is my favorite time of year. I hope I am doing all I can to make it special and meaningful to my children too. Monday we had a festive day. M had a free day, no work because of all the snow. We used the day to play in the snow more, building snow tunnels, and sledding. The boys went night sledding right before dinner. We did get out and run a few errands. We also made two batches of our cheese ball, and then delivered it to some friends. That was our Family Home Evening. We delivered things to our Home Teaching, and Visiting Teaching families. B-man would hand us a bag, and then one or all of us would trudge up to the door to drop it off.
Tuesday was another bonus day for B-man. No school for him, but M did go back to work. B-man has taken full advantage of the snow. He would play in it all day if I would let him. I try to let him play a lot but there is a limit to how long I can be outside, and a limit to how much he can be outside without me.
Wednesday was another quiet day. We really tried to avoid the stores, but usually we found we were missing some ingredient and would need to run to the store anyway. We live by an outlet mall, and so the traffic around our house getting to the normal stores has been pretty horrendous all week. At night M and I have been watching episodes of season three of 24. We hope to be done soon so I can go to bed at a normal time!
Thursday was Christmas Eve. During the day things were pretty quiet. M worked a half day. We specifically didn't go do anything so that the evening would be as calm as possible and we wouldn't feel rushed to get B-man and J into bed. We had tacos (with homemade shells, and guacamole) for dinner. Then after dinner we read the Christmas story. B-man didn't want to dress up. But I guess I don't blame him since he is the only one. We also read a bit from the Book of Mormon and its prophecies/signs of Christ's birth. We then opened a few gifts, (jammies, and an ornament) and then got the boys in bed. M put an empty dresser blocking the top of the stairs so that B-man couldn't wake up and go downstairs without us knowing.
Friday morning we all got up around 7:00 a.m. We didn't go downstairs until about 7:45 a.m. We all had to be dressed, hair and teeth brushed, and beds made. We waited for J to wake up, but finally gave up and woke him up ourselves. B-man was thrilled that Santa came. He brought him a bunch of Legos, and "guys." (The Legos action figures...) B-man first emptied his stocking and then focused on the Legos. We all investigated our prizes, and then had a breakfast of red pancakes and a smoothie. B-man was so focused on his Legos that we spent the rest of the morning playing with them. He and M had a little Legos production line going. They built about four or five things, and by the last one B-man did it by himself with only verbal help from M. While the boys were playing I relaxed, made soup, and took a cat nap. Finally around 2:00 (after hearing us talk about how he hadn't asked to open presents) he decided to take a break and open some presents. We opened up a bunch, and then had to stop and go to dinner. We had dinner with some friends. There were three families there, and together we five of the seven children were two or under. We were able to eat dinner relatively peacefully, and then when we tried to play Spoons the kids all went crazy. We abandoned the games, ate dessert, and then headed home. When we got home we had a few last presents to open. It was a great day. I love being able to stretch out the gift giving all day so that it lasts longer.
Saturday morning we woke up to lots of rain. It melted a lot of the snow which is great, but it did cause a few problems around the area. I did a little shopping in the morning and then we went to the church and met some friends there. We let the kids run around and play. The men taught the kids dodge ball, and the adults played a few rounds of "Lightening" before heading home for a very late lunch. That afternoon B-man got to watch "Star Wars Episode 4, A New Hope." It was a gift from one of my brothers. He was so excited. He is pretty sensitive about movies, so there were a few times we just fast forwarded. Or we would stop and explain what was going on so that he didn't get scared. He loved the movie, and we talked about Hans Solo, and Luke Skywalker the rest of the night. He kept forgetting Chewbacca's name, so he would just say "You know the brown guy with all the hair..." We had dinner right after finishing the movie. Then read a few books and he went to bed.
Today has been business as usual. M had meetings this morning. He also went to visit with one of his home teaching families, and took B-man with him on the visit. Since we didn't have church last week because of the snow, we did last week's Sacrament Meeting and young women's lesson this week. It was a great day with lots of wonderful music, and the chance to reflect on the birth of the Savior. After church we came home and had a replay of our Christmas Eve dinner. We then read books before getting the boys in bed.
We love you all! Merry Christmas!
R, M, B-man, and J
What do you do when two feet of snow fall?
M and B-man walked to Home Depot for a snow shovel. We tried the night before to buy one buy they were out, but they told us a shipment was coming in on Saturday. B-man said today that when he was almost to Home Depot he "didn't want to go anymore, but it was too late 'cause we were almost there." They walked through VERY deep snow to get there. I had hot cider waiting for them when they got back.
Take a lot of pictures of just snow.
Shovel the deck.
Have B-man shovel the deck again the next morning.
**B-man obviously chose this snow get up.
December 20, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
We survived the blizzard of 2009, but more on that later. Here’s a quick rundown of our week. Monday was a normal day, but for FHE we went to Costco and got some prizes for some people. We talked about gratitude for others.
Tuesday was another uneventful day. We are still doing our breathing treatments four times a day. That night I went to mutual. We were combined with the Young Men and went caroling to some families in our ward. Somehow I got put in charge of starting us out at each house. After a few houses one of the young women said “Sister Clark you must be a soprano.” When I insisted that I wasn’t she said, “Why are you starting the songs so high then?” Umm, because I am not a trained singer, and I don’t know what I am doing?
Wednesday I took B-man back to the doctor. He is getting better. We are also able to cut down on breathing treatments, and we are almost done with the antibiotics too. Hooray! We went to our clubhouse to go see Santa. B-man was pretty excited and told Santa that he wanted a lot of Lego's. The rest of Wednesday and Thursday were pretty quiet. Wednesday night B-man went to see Santa at our community clubhouse. J was freaking out about all the noise and people, so we went home.
Friday afternoon the big outing of the day was to Costco and the grocery stores. Between Christmas, and a storm that was supposed to hit on Saturday the stores were a ZOO. It was slightly a nightmare. People were buying tons of stuff. Sadly I kept forgetting things (the hazards of shopping without a list) and so I made a few emergency trips later that night. M met us at Costco, so we still had a good afternoon and evening despite the traffic and crowds.
Saturday morning we woke up to a lot of snow. It kept snowing too. All day long the snow just dumped. B-man was so excited. We all were. B-man played outside, built a fort, sledded, etc. I spent my time cooking and baking. We had hot cider when they came in for lunch, and had just a fun snowy day. M cleared off the car and tried to unbury the cars as much as possible before the snow got icy and hard to remove. We heard about three in the afternoon that school was cancelled for Monday and Tuesday, and about thirty minutes later we heard that church was cancelled. We also spent some time rearranging furniture in our basement. The layout is much better now. We still have too much furniture for the space, but at least now I can be in the room without having a panic attack.
Today has been a strange Sunday. Today our “ox” was in the snow. We spent the morning just relaxing and having fun. M made waffles, and we enjoyed the sunshine and feet of snow. We had two feet of snow fall in one day. It was amazing to look at! A little before lunchtime the guys headed outside to finish digging out the cars. It was amazing to see all our neighbors outside working on shoveling snow around. One problem is where you put all that snow… The snow from one car and parking space makes a huge pile. M also helped our neighbor. They are getting back today from being out of town, and was being nice. When J was in bed I headed out to help shovel too. It was a lot of work, but fun too. It’s a nice way to get to know your neighbors. B-man loved being outside all day. I had to come in at a certain point and work in the house. M finally came in frozen like a popsicle. He helped me finish the last preparations for dinner, and then we had some friends over for dinner. I was trying out two new recipes, and the dinner recipe could either have been great or terrible, so needed some brave people. After dinner we got the boys in baths and then in bed. They were all tired after such a busy, work day.
We love the snow. It is so fun, and since we don’t need to be anywhere and can stay home it is a lot of fun. M just found out that work is cancelled tomorrow too. I wish we could go somewhere fun! Who doesn’t love a huge snowstorm right before Christmas?
We love you all!
R, M, B-man, and J
December 13, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Christmas season is in full swing around here! We love it! We’ve had a quiet week by comparison. Monday was M’s first day back after being out of town so he worked a little extra. We had a short FHE that night after dinner.
Tuesday I ran a bunch of errands during the day. I am so happy that J is getting easier to take on errands. Whenever I leave a store with him still in his car-seat (instead of me carrying him) I get so excited. That night I went to mutual. We had a combined activity where we made ornaments and then played a quick game.
Wednesday I decided to keep B-man home from school so that I could take him to the doctor. He was on day ten of an antibiotic and was absolutely no better. In fact his cough was probably worse. I was so glad that I decided to take him in. I am happy to take my child to the doctor, but I hate to go and have them say he just needs to take it easy. After listening to him breathe and cough they realized that something was wrong. They gave him a nebulizer treatment, took his “pulse-ox”, and then sent me to get a chest x-ray to see if he had pneumonia. There is a kind of pneumonia that presents with no fever. He hasn’t had a fever the whole time, which has made it hard to figure out how sick he really is. After all that we went home. The doctor called later to say that the x-ray was clear. (That was good.) We all spent a couple hours at Costco while they figured out medications, before heading home for dinner. Now four times a day we do a nebulizer treatment and he is on a new antibiotic. I am hopeful that soon he will be cough and congestion free… Now if we could just get all of us well at the same time for more than a few days. That night M went to help build a manger for our ward float in our town’s Christmas parade.
Thursday and Friday were both slow, frigid days. Friday morning I had a follow-up appointment for B-man. He is slightly better, and they want to see him again next week too. That night I went to an Ornament exchange hosted by a woman in our ward. Saturday we were up and going early. M went to go walk in the float for the parade. We had the basic Nativity and then two sets of missionaries in their traditional missionary attire. Then the people walking behind the truck were handing out pass along cards and throwing candy. Apparently it went really well. Everyone is excited to do it again next year. Originally I was going to skip the parade since I had two sick boys and it has been so cold. But B-man was devastated, so instead I drove to the end of the parade, and missed the first few floats. We were still able to see the most important things, M, and Santa. Luckily the weather was cooperative and slightly warmer with no frigid wind. We came home and had a fun lunch, before splitting up to do various errands. M and B-man were together, and I had J. In between the evening I also made some Challah bread. It finished just in time for me to run one loaf next door before heading off to see one of the girls in my class perform in a local theatre production. I went with another leader and had a great time. The show included appetizers and dessert, and then had lots of little skits from various other productions.
Today has been a busy day. M had meetings in the morning, and then when he came home I left to go to a meeting for Young Women. I came home and worked on my lesson. Then we all went to church together. After church, (which had some excellent talks on tithing) we went to a little Christmas party that was thrown by some friends. It included a little white elephant gift exchange and was a great evening. Lots of kids, food, and fun. We got home way too late, and tried to get everyone to bed quickly.
We love you all!
R, M, B-man, and J
December 6, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
This week has seemed so much longer than normal. Mostly because M was out of town for the first half of the week. Those three days felt like three weeks seriously. I was such a wimp this time. I’m glad it went very quickly. Monday was a normal day for us. I did decide to take B-man to the doctor because he has had a very pesky cough that had gotten worse that day. The doctor said he had the beginnings of bronchitis and sinusitis. Hopefully the medicine will help him feel better soon. We did a Costco run and then headed home for the rest of the day. That night we had a small FHE before heading to bed.
Tuesday B-man stayed home from school since he was “sick.” B-man doesn’t really act sick unless he is REALLY sick. So he mostly acted like he normally does, but frustrated that he couldn’t be outside playing. In the afternoon we did make a grocery store run, and spent a little time outside.
Wednesday and Thursday were unremarkable days. B-man went to school, came home, etc. I spent a lot of time working on stockings. We were all so excited to have M home for dinner on Thursday. We were all going a little crazy that last half hour waiting for him.
Friday M took the day off. He had worked so many hours in the last two weeks that he didn’t need to work that day. M started off the day by going and helping in B-man’s classroom. I had originally signed up, but then B-man wanted him to do it instead of me. I went to play basketball in the morning too. It was great to be playing again. After basketball I headed home and we all had lunch together. We had a lazy afternoon. The highlight was getting our Christmas tree at Costco. Some people go out and cut their own tree, but we go to Costco, get some samples and then pick up our tree on the way out. I love it! The only problem is that the trees are all bound so you could be a little surprised when you unwrap it at home. We stuck our tree in a bucket of water outside to “hydrate” and then headed off for dinner. Whenever M gets home from a trip we go to dinner. That’s our new tradition. We tried a barbecue place close to our house. B-man wanted cat fish. We were all a little surprised, but he got the cat fish, and ate all of it.
Saturday was a busy day. We woke up to snow. It was just barely starting to stick, but then the rest of the morning it just kept snowing and snowing. B-man was so excited. We broke out all the snow gear. M and I spent the morning getting ready to head to Charlottesville for the day. One of his coworkers was getting married down there, and we had planned on going. We dropped off B-man at a friend’s house. They have a boy B-man’s age and they were SO nice to watch him for us. We then drove off in the middle of a snow storm. I was a little worried about the drive starting off, but it went fast and J slept the whole time! It was great. We first went to a little local shop we love to get some fun treats before heading to the campus. The couple got married in the chapel on the campus of UVA. We had to walk a little bit in the snow across campus, and it brought back some good memories of treacherous walks across BYU’s campus in the snow and slush. The wedding was fine; I was super stressed the whole time about J being quiet. We sat in the way back, and as soon as J started to get antsy M stood in the back with him. I think we did a good job and he was pretty invisible. (There were other children there.) After the ceremony we walked back to the bookstore and made a few purchases before heading to the reception. There was a little cocktail/appetizer hour while we were waiting for the bridal party. Then we headed into the ballroom for dinner. The bride had organized some sitters to be on site for those with children. It would have worked wonderfully, J just sleeping in the pack-n-play, but the other children kept waking him up. (Understandably.) The sitters would text us when he would wake up and then I would go rock him back to sleep. It worked pretty well. Eventually he got too awake so he came to the party for the last thirty minutes or so. We then headed back home. The drive went really well. All the roads were clear and the snow had stopped. It was nice to be able to chat with M and not worry that B-man was listening. We picked up a sleeping B-man from our friend’s house and then we all headed home to bed. B-man had a great time while we were gone. He played in the snow, and went to the ward Christmas party.
Today has been great. We all slept a little late and then we got up and got going. M worked on his lesson, and we went to church extra early for tithing settlement. When we got home from church we ate and then started to decorate the tree. B-man was a great helper. It was nice to enjoy one more year of putting ornaments on in any order. Next year J will be able to pull them off.
We love you all!
R, M, and B-man
Posts
All Comments
