Home School

I think I've said it before, but I'll go ahead and say it again -- I LOVE it when the kids do crazy creative things.  Even when it inevitably makes a huge mess all over my house.  This week's project?  Ethan and Grace have started their own school with Sophie, Jane and {sometimes} Alex as their willing students.

They've divided the living room into two "classrooms" with my quilt design board and they each have their own set-up.  It is awesome.  And hilarious.  All at the same time.  I'm pretty sure they're just patterning them after their actual classrooms at school, but I'm impressed nonetheless with their commitment to detail.   

Mr. Ethan's Class

 As I was finishing up dinner yesterday evening, Ethan came up to me and cutely asked if I would come and see his wall when I was done.  Of course I would.  Like I said, I love it when they do this kind of stuff.  It totally beats the usual kind of stuff they do, you know, like screaming at each other or fighting or just pointlessly making messes.  Along with the Essential Questions he listed on his wall, he also set up a pretty sweet library for his little classroom with a cozy little lamp right nearby. 

 Schema?  What the heck?  I think I was in college before I had ever heard that term.  Hahahaha.

 I'm pretty sure the books are separated into "levels" in the different bins.

Miss Grace's Class

Grace's half of the room is very Grace.  I love that she set out her quilt in front of the teacher's chair to form the rug for the kids to sit on and she, too, set up a leveled library and wrote up her schedule and put it on the wall.   She even begged me to let Sophie stay up 15 minutes later for her bedtime so that she could play school with her for a little bit longer.  ?????  Historically speaking, Grace and Sophie don't always get along quite this well, so of course I had to honor that request to prolong the peace and happiness.  Hahaha.

 {Not really related to school, but I had to snap a photo of this picture that Grace drew.  Check out the top right corner -- she's already got a signature worked out for her artwork!  Hahahaha.  Love it.}

 "What are you doing?"  I asked as Grace came into the kitchen to put orange peels in a baggie.  "We're starting a compost pile for my class," she replied.  

And that's a wrap.  I think I'll give them a one week time limit before I make them start cleaning everything up.  :)

Return of the Lorax

Grace had her 2nd grade performance last week and it was pretty much awesome.  The first and second grades at her school along with the 4th and 5th grade girls' honor choir have been practicing all year for the Art meets Music meets Drama  production of "Return of the Lorax."  

Eagerly awaiting the start of the show.

Not so eagerly waiting. She was a bit tired.  And spacey.  And not altogether enthused about sitting through the performance which she thought was REALLY loud.  She probably spent half the time covering her ears to block out the noise.

Opening number  -- "Flight of the Valkyries."

She was with her class in the back of the gym for this number while they were singing "return of the lorax" to the Valkyries music.

They decorated their shirts in Art class while learning about "background," "middle ground," and "foreground."  And in case you were wondering, those are Ethan's jeans she's wearing.  She didn't have any of her own to wear.

Almost ready for her big number.  

So excited.

{It seriously took forever before she started her part -- I kept starting the recording and then having to stop because she wasn't playing yet.}

Grace had been singing the songs non-stop for the last month and had long since memorized her short little speaking part, so I knew the basic gist of the show but I was not prepared for the full-on production.  It was amazing.  {And of course, my inner hippie self loved the message.}  They sang, they danced the "Trish Trash Polka," they played musical instruments -- and they may have even brought tears to my eyes.  True story.  THIS is the kind of stuff I love.  I am a HUGE advocate for the arts in school.  I think they are SO important.  I was sitting there for half the program trying not to bawl because I'm going to miss their school so much when we move this summer.  Yes -- move.  It is officially official now.  Scott's assignment here at the plant is drawing to an end and the position he will be filling next will take us back to headquarters.  I'm a little bit heartbroken because we've loved it here so much and made so many good friends, but Scott and I have talked about and thought about and prayed a LOT about this decision and we both feel like it's the right move for us. So come June {most likely} we will be embarking on a new adventure.  Until then, we will continue to make the most out of the rest of our time here.  :)

Grace's theatrical debut.

Potpourri

Potpourri - as in the Jeopardy! definition which consists of a miscellany of random trivia thrown together in haphazard fashion.  That is the theme of this blog post.  And I've got a whole lot of scraps here for you.  Hahaha. 

Scrap #1 -- Sophie's a Daisy! 

At the beginning of the month, Sophie had her "investiture ceremony" at school where she took the Girl Scout oath, shook hands importantly with her leader, and received the petals she has earned so far along with a real-life daisy.  I brought Alex and Jane along with me to support our little Girl Scout while Ethan and Grace stayed home due to a complete lack of interest in the occasion.  After trying to keep the little ones from running off during a rousing game of "Simon Says" with the Daisies, we finally moved on to the actual ceremony and I managed to snap a few pictures of the girls when I wasn't chasing Alex down every time he ran out the room.  Jane was so awe-inspired by the event that she barely made a peep and hardly moved an inch as she joined Sophie in the ranks and stood with the big girls while their leader presented them with their badges.

 This group of girls is the squealing-est, giggly-est, most high-energy-est group of girls I've ever seen.  They are like Sophie on crack.  

I LOVE this picture.  Hahahaha.  LOVE it.

This one, too.  Jane is absolutely killing me with her sobriety in these pictures.  Hahahaha.

Taking their Oath very seriously.

 {"Chrysanthemum's a daisy, Chrysanthemum's a daisy!"  -- Name that children's book.  Go!}

Scrap #2 -- We've reached the 100th day of school!

 And I just LOVE it when I don't find out about a homework assignment until right before bedtime.  Which is what happened on the 99th day of school when I read an email from Sophie's teacher right after dinner reminding them to be sure and decorate a hat with 100 things to wear to school the next day.  What the bunnysauce???  Do they think hats just grow on trees around here?  Hahaha.  Luckily Grace came to Sophie's rescue by thinking of the crown that Sophie had just gotten in Primary on Sunday for her to use and I found a giant sheet of princess stickers for her to decorate with and was relieved to discover that there were  EXACTLY 100 stickers left on it for her disposal! 

 Grace did some celebrating in her class at school as well.

I didn't get a picture of Sophie wearing her crown, but Alex commandeered it from her when she got home from school and I did get a shot of him.

Scrap #3 -- I'm on track with my goals!

I am baby-stepping my way to being MUCH more on top of things than I have in the past.  Which is a major reason why it's been a while since I've blogged.  Life gets even busier when I actually stop and do all the things that I'm supposed to be doing as well.  And just what are all those things?  Why thank you for asking!  In the past 2 weeks, I have done LOADS and loads of laundry {including FOLDING the stuff AND putting it away}; I have spent hours preparing lessons for my Youth Sunday School class; I've cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more; I've finally started working on my Family History again; I've started making our bread from scratch;  and  I've made REAL meals 5 out of 7 days each week so far this month!  I am on fire.  And will probably burn out by the end of January.  Hahaha.  Oh well -- that's just the way I roll.  To the extreme.

One of the things I decided to do this month to help out in the meal department was to go back to making up a monthly menu.  For the last several months I've been super lax about doing that and the result was that I got super lax about making dinner.  So, I sat down at the beginning of the month and wrote out a master list of every single meal I could think of and got the kids to help.  Then I forced myself to just write out the menu for the month using that master list and a few other tricks to make it all easier for me. "Tricks" is probably not the right word, but I did follow a simple rubric that helped in coming up with what to make each night.  Monday is our "Meatless Monday" meal; Tuesday is Leftovers; Thursday is "Try Something New" night; and Friday is our "Free Space" -- which means whatever is leftover, quick, or easy for the kids to make themselves.  Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday don't have a theme but perhaps by the end of the year I'll have come up with something for those as well!  Hahaha.  All in all, I feel like I've accomplished A LOT so far this year.  And that's a good thing.  :)

Scrap #4 -- It's Pinewood Derby Time!

Ethan competed in his second annual Pinewood Derby on Friday night, and this year we were excited to ALL be in attendance.  I can't remember why we didn't all go last year, but this year I wanted us all to be there to cheer him on in his cool runnings.  Hahaha.  It would have helped, however, if we had read the memo more closely and realized that it actually started at 6 PM and not 7.  Whoops!  It's a good thing my bff, Natalie -- whose husband is the cub scout master -- gave me a call around 6:20 and asked if we were coming.  Scott had already left with Ethan {we decided to take two cars in case we needed to get the little ones home to bed} so I quickly got Alex and the girls ready to go and we were soon on our way as well.  It was a lot of fun to be there and see the Derby and watch all the kids having a blast.  Even though Ethan's car didn't win the race, I think he was pretty happy with his award for "Most Imaginative Car" at the end of the night.

 Can you guess which one is his?

 Yep -- a Wii remote.  Hahahaha.

The whole troop.

Scrap #5 -- I'm a new Aunt! {Again!}

My little sis, Emily, just had her sweet little baby boy on Friday night.  As I was leaving the Pinewood Derby, I kept checking my phone to see if any texts had come through with details but didn't see anything so I called my mom.  She hadn't heard any news either, but while I was on the phone with her an email came through with a picture of little Henry and his stats.

Henry Clyde

January 18, 2013 @ 5:18pm
8 pounds 6 ounces, 21 1/2 inches long

 Is that little face to die for or what???

Presh!

While we were in Utah for Christmas, I was so excited to give Emily the quilt I had made for little baby Henry {and frantically finished up a couple days before we left}.  Our family tends to run towards girls, so it was really fun to make a little BOY quilt.  :)  I wanted to do something modern-ish {like Emily} yet still timeless and whimsical and boyish as well and the final result was even better than I had pictured in my mind.  {And yes -- I do realize that makes me sound rather full of myself.   Hahaha.  Sorry!  I'm really not.  I promise.}

The robot is pieced with the arms embroidered to look like springs and I quilted the background using a 2 inch grid.  I'm in love with the way it turned out!  

Close-up detail of the robot.  I googled a bunch of different images of robots and in the end graphed out my own version and went with it.  I really love the way it turned out.  :)

We are so excited and happy for Emily and Jeremy and for Pearce to be a big sister! 

Scrap #6 -- We've got some dreamers!

And finally, as we were eating dinner tonight, we got around to discussing this year's big dreams with the kids and reviewing last year's lists as well.  Just in case you were wondering what was accomplished and checked off in 2012, here is the short list:

Ethan -- got Just Dance 4;

Grace -- finished the Judy Moody series;

Sophie -- learned to read chapter books;

Jane -- got potty trained; 

Alex -- learned to walk!

Ethan was the only one interested in writing down any of his dreams for this year, and making the list once again in 2013 is finishing the Harry Potter series and running a 5K.  He also tacked on at the end the decision to get better at saving money.  A very worthy goal.  Hahaha.  Grace didn't write anything down -- she was too busy jumping rope --  but she too wants to run a 5K this year and of course, get a dog.  Maybe for Family Home Evening tomorrow night we can get the others to put down some dreams as well, but for now I think 2013 is off to a good start!

A Resolutionary Life

Here's something you may not know about me -- I LOVE New Year's Resolution time.  Love it.  Why exactly do I love it so much?  I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain.  Being the extremist that I am, I tend to have a lot of ideas bouncing around in my head at all times.  Aside from all the ideas and other clutter taking place in my brain, there are also millions of things to remember and to do and to stay on top of floating around there as well.  Whenever I start to feel overwhelmed and stressed about dropping the ball in various aspects of my life, it always helps me to make a list.  Any kind of list.  Whether it's full of "To-Do's" or just things to remember, goals or dreams and wishes.  Lists make things manageable.  Aside from getting it all out of my mind and onto paper, there is a tangible satisfaction that comes from crossing things OFF those lists once they've been accomplished.  

And then there's this tendency I have to wait until I have a metaphorical clean slate to write my life's story upon.  Surely I'm not the only one to do this, but it is just part of my nature to put off any new starts until there is a literal new beginning on the horizon -- whether that new beginning is the dawning of another day or the start of another month or {as is most often the case} the coming of a brand-new week.  I am forever waiting for Monday to make any real changes in my life.  

When you combine the commencement of a new year -- {the ultimate of fresh starts and do-overs} -- with the chance to make lists of things you want to do, well, that pretty much sings to my soul.  Never mind the fact that chances are highly likely I will never accomplish everything I have written down {I've already got 12 major bullet points going on plus 3-4 supporting goals asterisked beneath each one}, any kind of improvement is better than the alternative.  Helping my cause this year is that I've gone with very broad, almost un-quantifiable, resolutions.  For instance, it would be difficult to NOT "Do a better job feeding my Family." Hahaha.  Other examples from my list include: "Stay on top of stuff more" and "Work on Family History" and "Early to Bed, Early to Rise" {notice I didn't specify exactly what those times of "early" should be}.

Is my front-and-back filled page of resolutions a bit much?  Sure.  BUT -- here's the thing.  What I have learned about MYSELF {emphasis on this is ME and who I am} is that if I were to make a list with only one goal on it, by the end of the year I would probably have accomplished that one goal.  On the other hand if I were to make a list of a hundred goals, I might not complete all one hundred, but I would definitely accomplish a lot more than one. 

So there you have it.  My resolutionary life.  I haven't yet roped the kids into sitting down with me to spin out a dream session for the new year but it will come -- don't you worry.  Hahaha.  What I HAVE roped the kids into doing, however, is nothing short of miraculous.  As I made mention in my last post, this year heralds the beginning of a "No Junk January" revolution.  I created this concept to go under the broader category of "Do a better job feeding my Family" {other sub-categories include: cutting out processed food as much as possible, make 5 real meals each week, and try new recipes}.  Basically what No Junk January means is no treats, extra sugar, or junk food for the entire month.  I've also included time-wasting junk to be included in that definition and as such the kids are on an electronic detox for the month as well.  No TV, Wii, computer games -- nothin'.  Scott and I have agreed to make only a couple of allowances for that in the form of our Friday movie night (and that's only if chores have been satisfactorily done that day and optimally week) and POSSIBLY some electronics on Saturday if we can get everything else done that we need to. 

The results {at least thus far}?  Color me shocked and tickled pink.  I must have made the coming of these changes ABUNDANTLY clear, because no one has tried to fight me on it yet -- they have all basically accepted the fact that we are in major detox mode!  Hahahaha.  With all this extra time on their hands, they've resorted to all KINDS of fun new things to keep them busy.  Such as:

Art

 Grace's new desk set-up in her room.

 Just a few masterpieces she created while in her room yesterday where I made her spend the ENTIRE day because she was "feeling sick" and wouldn't go to school.  Hmmmm.

 From "Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy."  Isn't she really good???  She didn't trace this at all!

Playing Nicely with Each Other

 Sophie and Jane whipped out the crayons and coloring books yesterday after dinner and managed to play together really nicely for a good 5 or 10 minutes before things began to disintegrate.

New Projects

 Ethan and Grace have been bit by the cross-stitching bug.  Ethan more so than Grace.  I've been impressed that they've been able to do it slightly more independently than I thought possible.

 I'm thinking this owl is a bit more complicated and labor-intensive than she has the patience for right now.

Chores

 "If I do my chores, can I play with play-doh?" Jane asked of her own volition today.  Why yes, my child.  Yes, you can.  Hahahaha.

Don't be too impressed.  That whole "Stay on top of stuff more" goal spurred me to action in getting started with teaching her how to do chores.  I'm pretty sure the others were already doing more than one thing by her age, but we're baby-stepping here.  For the entire month of January, Jane's chore is to unload the dishwasher.  Isn't she adorable?

And that is that folks.  I'm sure the rest of the month won't be quite as smooth sailing as this first week, but enough positive changes have come about so far that I'm tempted to extend the junk ban for the rest of the year.  We'll see what the kids have to say at the end of January.  Hahahaha.

Sunbeams and Starlight

 Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam, to shine for Him each day...

 In every way try to please Him, at home, at school, at play.

 A Sunbeam, a Sunbeam, Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam.  A Sunbeam, a Sunbeam, I'll be a Sunbeam for Him.

Yes, indeed, it is true!  We have ourselves a cute little Sunbeam!  {In our church we have an organization for the kids called Primary that's kind of like a Sunday School.  The Sunbeam class is the youngest class in the Primary and whoever is 3 years old at the beginning of the year gets to move on up out of the Nursery.}  I was SUPER nervous about Jane entering the ranks of the big kids this week due to the fact that she kind of can't sit still to save her life and I'm starting to think she might have a touch of ADD.  It also didn't help that she hasn't been overly enthused about moving out of Nursery and away from her snacks and toys and ability to roam wild and free.  Hahaha.  Thankfully, today was a success on two counts -- we made it to church with our new 9 AM starting time AND Jane made it through her first day of Sunbeams! Success, indeed.

Not so successful?  Last night's sleep-capades.  Because over the course of the night we had not one, not even two, but THREE roommates with us while we tried to catch some Zzzzs.  Jane was the first one up {at 11:30} and it took me almost an hour to get her to calm down and go to bed.  And by bed I mean the Pack n Play that has now taken up permanent residence in our bedroom.  Grace woke me up about half an hour after that, JUST as I was drifting off to sleep, to complain that she was itchy.  It was a supreme tender mercy that she didn't throw a full-on fit and instead just curled up on the toddler bed that was so conveniently placed right by the side of our bed and drifted back off to sleep rather quickly.  Around 3 o'clock I was awoken by the sound of Alex crying and as I stumbled out of bed to go and get him I realized Sophie had come and climbed in our bed at some point and was sound asleep.  {She was, of course, on Scott's side of the bed because they all know that he will let them stay.  If they come to my side, I will kick them out quicker than you can say "Jiminy Cricket!"  Hahahaha.  This is mostly due to the fact that Scott is a SUPER deep sleeper and I am not.}  After rocking Alex for a few minutes, I put him back down, transferred Sophie to her own bed, and fell back asleep for only a few more hours until it was time to get up for good and start the day.

 Our new roomie.

I'd like to say this was an isolated incident, but it probably won't be.  Jane has taken up almost permanent residence in that Pack n Play and I think she's probably just a couple of dresser drawers away from being a full-fledged roommate.  I've joked with Scott that perhaps we can slowly start moving the Pack n Play closer and closer to the door, until we finally just put it out in the hall and maybe that will do the trick, but who knows?  For now, though, I'd rather her in there than in OUR bed with us.  And if only Sophie fit, too, we'd be all set.  Hahaha.

In other news, Scott put up some bunkbeds in Grace and Jane's room yesterday and our resident creative director has already worked her magic and made it her own.  Between her artwork, the Christmas lights, and her brand-new desk and bean bag chair, it's become a real cozy little spot with lots of personality.

In closing, I'd just like to state -- for the record -- that we went the WHOLE entire day without any electronics for the kids.  AND they still had fun!  {Reverent fun, of course.  Hahahaha.}  I'm rather shocked myself and perhaps I'm going to jinx things, but No Junk January is off to a fantastic start.  Hahaha.

{No Junk January is what I have deemed this month in order to detox from the copious amounts of sugary treats and candy and junk food we've indulged in over the course of the holiday season.  We are also throwing in electronics as part of that detox plan.  More details to come...}

Happy New Year!

The story continues...

New Year's Eve we headed up to Aspen Grove to spend the next two nights up in the mountains for lots of family, fun, and games.  We joined Scott's brother and sister and their families as well as his mom and dad with different aunts, uncles, and cousins meeting up with us each night.  Our kids officially had a ball being able to play with so many cousins and Scott and I had fun visiting as well.  Of course, things did not go completely without a hiccup, so, to illustrate the last few days of our trip, I present The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good --

• The view.  I mean, come on.  LOOK at this place!

We stayed at Beckham Lodge, which is the same place we stayed two years ago when we came for the summer Family Camp.

• Not having to rent a car.   Scott's aunt and uncle so kindly let us borrow their 1992 Mercury Sable station wagon for the whole time we were in Utah.  {And even better we were able to get it up the mountain without any problems!}

My family had a tan one of these babies back in the day.  Hearing the kids fight over who got the back {rear-facing} seat brought back so many memories.  Hahaha.

• Bonding with the cousins.  It was especially fun seeing Adam and Susi's kids who we don't get to see as often since they are not within driving distance from us.

Here is Abby trying to teach the kids how to do this cup clapping thing that's been done to different songs on You Tube.

Alex kept making a beeline for this keyboard, and cute little Ella kept trying to "help" him and take care of him.  It was adorable.

• Being fed delicious food each night thanks to Scott's mom.  Seriously!  She deserves a major reward for all the work she put into planning meals, buying and preparing food, transporting it up to Aspen Grove, and then cooking and serving it to all of us.  She is amazing!  

We set up tables all across the common area to accommodate everyone.

Waiting in line for some yummy food!

• Playing lots of games and having lots of fun.  Once dinner was cleared on New Year's Eve, we busted out lots of games and other activities for the kids {and grown-up kids} to do.  Grandma set up a coloring station for the little ones, and Jane and her twin cousins, Lucy and Ella, parked themselves there for most of the night.  Other games being played were Clue, Phase 10, Acquire, and Ticket to Ride.  The teenage cousins along with some of their second cousins went to a Youth dance up in Heber City while the rest of us stayed behind to ring in the New Year.  And ring it in we did!  As a special treat, we even let Ethan, Grace, and Sophie stay up until midnight.  

Lucy, Ella, and Jane with Grandma.

Where's Waldo?  Hahahaha.  I had already scanned through this picture several times before I noticed Ethan staring and smiling creepily at me through the slats of the chair.

• More sledding!  This time we were slightly more prepared.  A quick run to Target right before we left was semi-successful in procuring appropriate snow gear for all the kids.  Ethan, Grace, and Jane, along with a bunch of the other cousins, braved the elements to check out the sledding hill on the grounds at Aspen Grove.

There was ONE snow bib left at Target and it was in Ethan's size.  There were no snow boots for him, but rain boots seemed to do the trick.

Grace threw a mega-fit when I came back from the store with nothing but some Hello Kitty rain boots for her to wear.  "You didn't get me anything on PURPOSE!!!" She screamed at me in what was arguably the most ridiculous statement of all time.  Because, really.  Is there any way I would ever purposely do something to provoke a melt-down out of this child???  

Luckily, Susi had an an extra snow bib that she borrowed which did the trick even if it was a little small.  After using a sharpie to cross out the Hello Kitties on each boot she was good to go.

Grace and Hannah.  BFFs for life.

Scott's brother Adam was so nice to take Jane down the hill a few times since Scott was back at the Lodge with Alex and Sophie (who was having asthma/breathing issues almost the whole time we were up there).  Jane LOVED sliding down the hill in the inner tube.

Check out how gorgeous that sky is!  It really was the perfect day out there on New Year's.  Not a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining.  Even though it was bitter cold, it ALMOST felt okay in the sun.  Once that sun started to drop behind the mountain, though, it was brutal!

Ethan caught some air on this mini-jump that someone had created.

And Jane occupied herself while waiting for her turn by kicking around a newly busted sled.

Just for the record, the blown-up inner tube was the most highly coveted mode of transportation down the hill.  And lasted the longest.  I'm pretty sure all the other plastic saucer sleds ended up shattered and destroyed.

Action shot -- Thanks Adam!

• More bonding occurred.  Jane was quite the pet {or pest, depending on how you look at it} for the older kids.  She LOVED playing with Sam and Jake and Abby and Sydney.  And by playing I mostly mean bugging them.  Hahaha.  They were all such good sports about it, though, and I actually think they got a big kick out of her.  Most of the time.  Hahaha.

Here is Jane chucking a plastic cup at Abby who caught it before any damage was done.

"Sam is my best friend!" she said over and over again.

• And MORE games were played.  Scott taught the middling crew how to play Scotland Yard.  They were intrigued.  After playing a single round with them, they had picked it up enough to play on their own.  Ethan was pretty much in heaven because there is NO ONE here at home who will ever play any games with him.  Grace really doesn't like board games, and the other kids are too little.  Scott and I rarely have the time {or patience} for playing games with him, but after seeing how much fun he had with his cousins, I think we should make it happen more often.

Joseph, James, Ethan, and Ben had the games on lock-down this trip.

The Bad --

• Major asthma flare-ups.  Both Sophie and Jane were having problems while we were in Utah, but once we were up in Aspen Grove it escalated even more for Sophie.  Aside from needing regular breathing treatments every 4 hours while awake (and sometimes sooner than that), she and Jane were both waking up in the night needing additional treatments as well.  At some point during each night we were there, I was worried we would need to make a trip down to the hospital based on the way Sophie was breathing.  I don't know if it was the altitude, the dryness, or the extreme drop in temperature from what she's been used to {or perhaps the combination of all three}, but whatever the reason, she sounded bad.  Luckily, we were able to get ahold of the doctor's office on Wednesday morning and they agreed to call in a prescription for prednisolone out in Utah for us to start until we could get her in to see the doctor the next day when we were home.

Playing on the iPad through yet another breathing treatment.

• The messes.  Oh the messes my children made everywhere we went.  As we were cleaning all the rooms out before checking out of Aspen Grove on Wednesday, we discovered where all the food had been going that we saw Grace and others sneaking over the course of the 3 days we were there. To their "fridge," of course.  Disturbing and disgusting, all at the same time.  Hahaha.

• My inability to read the directions on a borrowed bottle of contact solution.  Which leads me to...

The Ugly --

• My eye.  After a late night on New Year's Eve and then being up half the night with various kids, I was not quite thinking OR looking at directions when I grabbed the bottle of contact solution I had borrowed from one of Scott's cousins and proceeded to squirt it onto my contact lens right before putting it in my eye.  I really should have paid attention to the warning that was printed on a red label right on the front of the bottle -- "Use only lens case provided.  Do not rinse lens with Clear Care prior to using."  Because what I ended up doing was bathing my left eye in un-neutralized peroxide.  Yeah.  It burned.  A lot.  I flushed it out with water the best I could and luckily, Scott's mom had some eye drops on her that kind of helped a little, but UNluckily it just so happened to be the day we were taking our family picture and I was stuck wearing my glasses for the rest of the day {and trip}.

At the end of the day.  Some of the redness and pain had gone away, but not all of it.  

Why can't I look as cute as Sophie in glasses?  

Oh well.  Some people have all the luck.  Hahaha.

And there you have it -- A rockin' New Year's Eve and day!  Once we got back to Provo on Wednesday, we spent one last day all together before Kristin's family and our family took off on Thursday.  Scott hit up Les Miserables in the afternoon with his mom, Kristin, Susi, and the 4 oldest teenagers while I stayed behind to pack things up so we'd be ready to go in the morning.  But don't worry -- I really didn't want to go.  I know this is blasphemous to so many of you who might be reading this blog, but I just don't do super long movies ESPECIALLY when there is only singing.  I like the song songs in Les Mis just fine, but it's all the sung dialogue that pretty much drives me nuts.  And makes me SUPER antsy.  Scott sent me a message about 20 minutes into the movie to let me know I'd made the right choice in not going  -- "fyi," he texted, "you would hate this."  Hahahaha.  Once everyone got back, the teenagers watched all the kids for us so we could take Scott's parents out to dinner to thank them for everything they had done.  It totally was not NEARLY enough compensation for all they did, but as Kristin said, it was a gesture.

Our trip ended yesterday with the LONGEST day of traveling ever.  Hahaha.  Okay, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it felt that way.  We flew out of Provo, and once we were on the plane, it took 45 minutes to de-ice and get the engine started so that we could fly.  And this was after a super long wait through the lines to check-in and get through security.  Everyone was LOVING being right behind our large crew.  Our connecting flight was in Denver, and we were so late getting there that we would have missed it if the gate hadn't been right next door.  As it was, we walked off one plane and got right in line to board another.  Thankfully, we made the flight, and even MORE thankfully, the kids were pretty cooperative.  It helped that Alex fell asleep in Scott's arms almost immediately, and the TV screens in front of each child helped a ton as well.  Once we landed back here, we thought we'd have just enough time to gather up our luggage and drive straight to Sophie's doctor's appointment.  We were wrong.  Our remote wouldn't work to open the doors when we got to the car, and when Scott manually unlocked them we saw flashing lights on the dashboard saying, "THEFT!"  Nothing was stolen, and who knows if anyone REALLY tried to break in, but regardless of that the car wouldn't start and NONE of the electrical stuff would work either.  And it was freezing outside.  After loading everyone up {with the luggage still outside because we couldn't get the trunk open} we waited while Scott tried and tried to get ahold of someone to come and give us a jump to see if that would do the trick.  Someone finally came, the car finally started and we FINALLY managed to load everything up.  And then the car clunked out again as soon as we started to back out of our spot.  Aaaaahhhhh!  I won't even bother trying to flesh out the scene for you with screaming, over-tired, and melting down children in the background.  Suffice it to say that this was the worst part of the day.  After tracking the same parking attendant down and getting another {longer} jump we made it to Sophie's postponed doctor's appointment and finally, FINALLY got home.  

And that was that.  Although, I think this trip must have taken more out of me than I realized, with all the sleepless nights, dealing with cranky children, and always being on the go.   Once the kids were in bed last night {SUPER early, by the way -- we're talking 6 o'clock} I crashed hardcore on the couch around 7 and then slept until 10:30.  I woke up for about 45 minutes to try and help Scott deal with Jane who had also woken up before finally crawling into bed to crash some more.  Aside from a 4 AM stint with Sophie and the nebulizer {and a wide awake Grace who was already set up in "her" chair watching TV when we came down} I slept straight through until morning when Scott brought a screaming Alex to me in bed before leaving around 7.  I was kind of a mess this morning trying to get kids to school because I was still SO tired.  I even fell back asleep on the couch for like a 5 minute snooze after I had fed Alex and Jane and they were playing with their new toys.  Thankfully, no one threw any fits about going to school this morning, and once the older kids were off I enjoyed a fairly low key morning and even got around to cleaning up the kitchen in the afternoon!    

All's well that ends well and I'm hoping by the end of the weekend we'll have the whole family back on schedule.  After all, it is a new year and we've got to get it started off right!