birthday pizza!

I literally just listened to this chapter yesterday on my phone at the gym and nothing really stuck out to me and then I opened to this chapter in my little book of mormon and these verses just stood out.  I'm such a visual person.  reading on paper makes all the difference.

I set Andrew on my bed to hang out while I ran upstairs to put Elizabeth down for nap and when I came back, he'd passed out.  ugh.  frustrating when you just need to be in two places at once.

Sarah is one of the most unclear texters I know.  I got this as I pulled in the garage after visiting teaching and was so confused.  even two hours later, I was still trying to figure out who was going to watch my kids, etc.  I wondered if maybe she'd ask Jane to come over but texted my honey and found out that he had plans to be home by 5 so I could go.  what a fun surprise!  I chose mod pizza as our spot and Sarah and Jill picked me up and Janel met us there.

wanna know what else was really fun about the day? Abigail has been talking about this girl, Fiona, that lives on our block (although I just found out which house she lives in) for a while and playing with her after school and we just realized that that's the same girl that we see walk home with her brother after school each day.  I finally told Fiona that I wanted to go over and meet her mom and when I did, I could instantly tell that I liked her.  we talked for only a few minutes before I mentioned that we go to the church on the other side of the neighborhood and she's all "the LDS church?!" yup... that one.  and then she excitedly tells me "my best friend is LDS!!!"  they just moved here from longmont and the LDS friend actually just moved from longmont to New York and I was just hearing all about it but it was seriously the most hilarious thing to me that it gave me such an instant connection with it.  she had so many questions about why there are so many mormons in Parker and why all of the ward buildings here look different than the ones in longmont and she was so excited to tell her kids that Abigail is mormon just like their best friends.  I'm excited to get to know this lady better.  also excited that Abigail's friend isn't part of a weird family where I have to make up excuses of why they can't play together.  ; )

Abigail's fashions

we've been having unusually warm weather.  but still, Abigail was anxious to wear her hat, scarf, and mittens.  she walked downstairs, ready to wear this outfit to school.  how do you find that balance of letting your kid confidently wear clothes they love and protecting them from outfits that will have other people making fun of them?  

I let her wear the whole thing except that I had her put on full length black leggings... and I brushed her hair, which naturally broke up what she had going on above her shoulders... since she had on the hood of the hoodie and then the hat and then the scarf.  I can't remember exactly what she looked like when I dropped her off, but it was a significant improvement considering I only asked her to change one thing.

here's our daily Andrew picture.

monkey see, monkey do.

I did a reading lesson with Brady out of his reading lesson book.  for the first time since October 14th.  the book made a pretty significant jump where it dropped all of the special symbols (like a line over the long vowel sounds) and font and went to a regular font and no symbol clues.  it was sooo confusing/frustrating for Brady even though he was fine reading that font in regular books that had no special symbols.  after a few days of frustrating lessons, I just dropped it.  we did some "lessons" of just him reading books to me (mostly bob books) but that eventually faded out too.  he's not a fan of bob books because there's really no plot and his questions never get answered.  so, mostly, he's just been reading random stuff that he sees around and sometimes reads some easy reader books.  I decided to try the reading lesson book again and Brady and I were both pleased and surprised at how easy it was for him again.  so even without formal lessons, the time off was still a time of learning for him.  anyway... we'll see what kind of schedule we do with it going forward.  it's just nice to know that it's an option again.  and just to note... the first lap was reading all of the words two times through, the second lap was reading the story the first time through, and the third lap was him reading the story the second time through while pausing at points to answer reading comprehension questions.

Brady told me a few weeks ago that he wanted a drum for Christmas.  it was the first I'd ever heard of it so I thought it was a fleeting thing.  not the case.  he's really into drumming now... with Lincoln logs and a boppy pillow.

Christopher had a bishopric meeting at 8:30 and bedtime was ROUGH... especially because Brady was exhausted and out of control.  I sat in the hall and waited for my kids to fall asleep while I read this conference talk about how hard is good.  these are screenshots of some of my favorite parts.

and honey and I watched some this is us before bed.  I love that show.

such a terrible Tuesday

and now Elizabeth is putting elbow pads on her knees to be a sports player.

it's common for Elizabeth to be sitting at the table and yell "one bite!" to me or Chris.  I guess I unintentionally created this.  it's because I hate leaving that last little bit of food uneaten.  so when she eats yogurt and says she's all done, I scrape the bowl or container for her and give her that last spoonful while I say something like "here's one more bite!"  so now she just always requests "one bite" when she's done with something.  normally we truly can scrounge up one more bite.  this time though, I laughed out loud.  Elizabeth handed me this and asked for her one bite.  but you better believe I put those tiny crumbs on that spoon and she happily ate it.  waste not, want not, my friends.

I love finding this surprise little gems.

I got a new companion recently and we visit three sisters now.  two of them, I knew we wouldn't be able to visit before the end of the month so I dropped this off instead.  a pomegranate with a quote and note on the other side.  does anyone else have any good ideas of simple things to drop off for people concerned with clean eating?  also, the pomegranates at Costco are HUGE.  like one pomegranate yields three cups of seeds.

I ordered family photos for honey to send out to his clients.  hopefully they look great because there are 350 of them.  I'm trying not to think about three hundred and fifty people having a picture of me and my family.  there's a reason I don't do that whole Christmas card thing.  it just makes me feel a little self conscious.  but for anyone wondering... Walmart does 4x6 prints for 9 cents each (doesn't have to all be the same photo) and mails them to your home for free.  waaaaay cheaper than what other places do.

Brady learned about the three little pigs at school.

sequencing and patterns.

my day was so rough because I felt stuck in an ADD fog and had so much I wanted to get done but nothing was actually happening except for Brady and Elizabeth making messes and needing me.  if that wasn't bad enough, my evening was just so much worse.  Abigail and Brady were both struggling.  Abigail was out of control and kept hurting Brady and getting sent to her room and so even though Brady had been fine, he quickly went downhill in his behavior.  and Elizabeth took her clothes and diaper off more times than I could even count.  and Andrew was crying unless he was being held.  and I was trying to make ham and cheese sliders for dinner and couldn't find any mustard and concluded we must be out and added a splash of vinegar to substitute but it made the sauce separate and not stick and Andrew kept crying and eventually I just stuck dinner in the fridge to eat tomorrow night and told Chris he could have cereal or whatever he wanted.  he chose cereal and tuna sandwiches for himself and the kids.

he took Brady ice skating at the Pepsi center (almost didn't because the kids were being so bad, but it's a season ticket holder thing and it only happens once a year) and the rest of us finally got a breather.  splitting Abigail and Brady up makes allll the difference in the world.  they're fine apart and mostly terrible together.  also, I ended up finding mustard in the fridge, shoved in the back... honey insisted he didn't put it there (it belongs on the door) but then I found this and felt even more confirmation that I was right... because mayo doesn't go here.  it goes on the door.

the girls and I peeled pomegranates to eat and had some quiet time together and eventually we all got to bed.

on a roll

from the quick journal I sometimes keep in the notes app on my phone:

so focused. Vacuumed and got dressed for the gym. Stacey came from 8:30-9:30. Got Abigail to school okay and then got to the gym for 10:05 Tabata with Mollee. It was good but didn’t leave me sore at all. Played on the playground while I nursed Andrew, went by chick fil a for calendar chicken strips and birthday cookie and then ate in the car in the Costco parking lot. Got a bunch of stuff from Costco and had to unpack it all when we got home. Always takes forever. All three kids slept for quiet time while I washed my car... so filthy from the road trip out to Utah in the snow. Picked Abigail up. She played outside while I swept the garage and did some yard work. I finally finished chopping off the rest of the lilies. So glad we got rid of some of them... ashamed that it still seems so hard for me to tend to the ones that remain. Also pulled a few weeds and felt good to get that all done. It was such a non stop productive day and then when honey got home, I turned into a complete bum. I had one of those times where I got sad all of a sudden. Trying to figure out what causes those moments. 

such a happy kid.

Elizabeth requested to hold Andrew.  I felt like he was doing a photo shoot on the beach with his side pose he was in.

Brady's latest thing is being a catcher.  backwards hat and wears Chris's hockey elbow pads on his legs to be like the big leg pads a catcher wears.  he's so cute.  who wouldn't love to play catcher by the light of the Christmas tree?

as you can see, Elizabeth takes a pretty passive role in "holding" Andrew.

she kept trying to keep his head looking straight so his body would wiggle less.

it didn't work.

I can't look at this picture without cracking up.  her face.  her hands.  so interested, but so... not actually helping.

back to keeping his head in place.

I texted this to Lisa and told her that Elizabeth was just practicing for when women get the priesthood.  everything about Elizabeth is so, so funny.

Abigail and I had some special one on one time reading kit in my bed by the light of the Christmas tree.  she was fidgeting the whole time with Andrews stuff that was within reach.  when we were done reading, Abigail showed me how she made a wide brim hat for Sophie the giraffe.  that girl is so creative.

and when I was closing up shop for the night, I saw this ornament on the tree.  not sure exactly when Abigail made it (maybe when Brady was playing catch and Elizabeth was "holding" Andrew?), but she put it on the tree without mentioning it.  I was so impressed.  she did such a great job coloring and cutting and designing it.  even the part holding it on was decorated and cut... no glue or tape used... it's all cut from a single piece of paper.  I'm going to have her make more.

it was a really good day.

o Christmas tree

church was great.  the speakers were wonderful, Sunday school was great, and RS was a fantastic lesson on gratitude... complete with homemade gratitude journals for everyone.  I loved hearing everyone's comments.

this just made me feel like Abigail should be in a musical or something... even though she wasn't singing.

Chris and the kids put up the Christmas tree.  Abigail was well behaved but Brady was 100% out of control.  Christopher was gone much of the afternoon with calling stuff and home teaching, but the girls and I hung some ornaments on the tree.

and Brady fell asleep on his bed sometime between 6 and 6:30... I shouldn't have been surprised considering most of his bad behavior stems from lack of sleep.  he slept for an hour, woke up to eat something, and then went to bed again.  rough night.

driving home from Utah

Saturday morning we woke up and packed and ate breakfast and said our goodbyes.  thankfully, the drive home was mostly uneventful except for some gorgeous sunset views.  

random rash I found.  was gone a day later when I remembered to check it again.  it's stuff like this that makes me never feel like I need to take my kid to a doctor... too many times, if you wait a little while, I'll take care of itself.

so happy to be able to stretch out after the drive.