Snow Day!

While our neck of the woods is almost never a marshmallow world in the winter, this weekend we got to pretend for just a little bit that it was!   Hahaha.  Snow had been in the forecast for Sunday, but I was skeptical at best as the weekend started.  And even once the snow started to dust the trees and grass yesterday morning, I still had a hard time believing it would actually stick.  Well, I'm happy to say that I was totally WRONG!  Not only did we get to experience a TRULY magical snowfall yesterday -- with gloriously fat and fluffy flakes of snow blanketing our home and neighborhood -- the kids got a snow day out of it TODAY as well.  Although, I guess I should clarify that the snow day meant no in-person school.  They still had virtual work to finish up online for the day, but thankfully, that didn't stop them too much from having fun!

This picture is from early on in the day.  We ended up getting a couple of inches or so by the end.

(Isaac was super excited about making this little "snow guy" with me.  I think this is the very first time he's ever played in snow!)

In other wintry/Christmas-y news this weekend, we got to decorate some cookies that Scott brought home from work.  Apparently there is a contest connected with the decorating, and prizes will be awarded.  I'm not so sure our family will be winning anything, but the kids definitely enjoyed getting creative and I definitely enjoyed eating the gingerbread men before anyone else got their hands on them.  Hahahaha.  

(Isaac's face here.  Hahahahaha.)

(SO much icing.)

Also happening this weekend was a discussion with the children about their expectations for Christmas break.  Along with traditional requests such as: getting their "Christmas cereal," going to see Christmas lights, watching Christmas movies, having cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, and gumbo on Christmas night, Grace has also gotten most of the other kids on board with the idea that they should give each other gifts this year as well.  She's already bought or made most of the gifts SHE will be giving, and I know she can't wait for Christmas Day.  Or Eve.  I don't know that we've hammered out the details of when this sibling present exchange is going to happen.  Hahaha.  I've recognized for YEARS now that one of Grace's main love languages is gift-getting, but I have to say -- I love seeing that gift-GIVING is just as exciting for her!  (I mean I can't say I blame her -- finding the exact, right, perfect present for people is one of my favorite things as well.)

(Isaac and I are the only ones who have seen the lights on the town square so far this season.)

His friend from preschool had a dress-up/trick-or-treat theme for his birthday party and then we walked down to the square to see the lights.  Isaac loved it!

Christmas can't come soon enough!  Just one last week of school to get through and then we can party!  And by party, I mean settle in and enjoy the break in a mostly homebody fashion.  Hahahaha.  I really can't wait.  :)

A preview of the chillaxing to come -- they're all obsessed right now with Minecraft.  Specifically building their houses and replicating their schools and other parts of their actual real world.  I don't get the appeal.  But it is certainly appealing to them.

(Completely unrelated, but too hilarious not to post.  Isaac is obsessed with "smoothing" his hair these days.  He says he doesn't want crazy hair anymore, and he thinks this brush is the best at smoothing.  Hahahahaha.)

Thanksgiving 2020 -- The Greatest Hits

(That face, though.  Amiright?  😆)

For 2020's record-keeping purposes, I'm going to knock out a quick recap of The Greatest Hits of Thanksgiving:

First up?  The planning.  Thanks to Walmart grocery delivery -- and outsourcing the shopping list to the kids (but mostly Ethan) to make sure we had everything we needed for our must-have items on the menu  -- I hardly had to do anything this year!  Hahahahaha.  Well, that might not technically be true, but it sure felt like it.  With all that freed up time on my hands, I created a Thanksgiving Prep Timeline for the first time ever, and it really paid off -- I just might have to do this every year!  Haha. 

The next big hit, would have to be the Thanksgiving themed coloring tablecloth that I found at Target once again this year.  There's just something so satisfying about sitting around the table, coloring turkeys and pies, while chillaxing the week away.  Hahahahaha.  Seriously, though.  I love how much everyone enjoys these tablecloths whenever I've been able to find them during the holidays.  

(I love these turkey headbands and placemats, too.)

While Wednesday was my designated day for making the rolls and pies for our feast, the BIGGEST hit of our Thanksgiving menu this year was a last minute, Thursday morning add-on in the form of a French Silk Pie (recipe courtesy of the Pioneer Woman).  It was delicious.  Everyone -- other than Sophie who is still allergic to eggs and Isaac who is super picky about trying new things -- thought it was the bomb.  I mean, Grace doesn't even love chocolate all that much, but the heavy layer of whipped cream on top was enough to counter-balance the rich, chocolate-y-ness, and she declared this French Silk a winner.  (Also a winner?  The French Apple Pie, which is our other favorite Thanksgiving menu item.)

(Like, I kind of want to go make another one right now it was so good!  As a side note, I used a graham cracker crust rather than a traditional pie crust and since I didn't have any bars of baking chocolate lying around the house, I used a cocoa powder/oil conversion substitution instead.)

An underrated (at least in my book) yet delicious side that I particularly loved this year was the Yogurt Jell-o I made.  Or should it be called Jell-o Yogurt?  I can't decide, but I love it so much.  I decided to make a raspberry flavor in addition to our customary orange this time around and I think I'm going to have to put it on auto-repeat for the rest of forever because they were both so good.  And don't even get me started on the gorgeousness of the COLORS!  The raspberry in particular was just beautiful.  I tried taking a picture to really represent here on the blog, but pictures don't do it justice at all.  Boo!  I guess you'll all just have to make some yourself so you can see the color firsthand!  Hahaha.

(I didn't have plain yogurt, so I used vanilla.  And I didn't bother with garnish or berries or mint leaves.  Hahaha.  Other than that, I followed this "recipe" to a T and it did not disappoint!  You can Google it to get the full instructions, but making it is fairly intuitive.)

And finally, perhaps the greatest hit of all (at least for me) was not having to go anywhere or do anything.  Especially for Black Friday.  And I am totally here for never going out shopping on Black Friday ever again. If 2020 has taught us anything, it's that just about everything can be bought online.  Hahaha.  

Ethan is thankful for:  Family, the Holiday Season, Utah, Piano, Sports, School, and Stanlee (their car)

Grace is thankful for:  MOVIES/SHOWS, FAMILY, FRIENDS, THE SELECTION SERIES, CELEBRITIES, MY ROKU/TV, BOX FAN

Sophie is thankful for: FICTIONAL CHARACTERS...and FAMILY

Jane is thankful for:  Family, Friends, Food, Drinks, Movies/Shows, Christmas, and Books

Alex is thankful for: family and friends, legos, tv/video games, maxwell, pokemon, books, and himself 

Isaac is thankful for:  THANKSGIVING FEAST, BULL'S EYE DART BALL GAME, COUSINS, YOSHI, THE SWITCH, SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY, SUPER SMASH BROS ULTIMATE, MOM & DAD

And that's all folks!  Two more weeks until we can Break once again.  Three cheers for Christmas vacation!  Hahahaha.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

 Happy Friday, y'all!  And what a happy Friday it is!  The Thanksgiving break is upon us, and I for one could not be happier.  I figured I should commemorate that happiness by blogging about EVERYTHING everyone has been up to for the last several weeks.  Because everyone likes a photo/story dump of a post, right???  Let's take it from the top...

ETHAN 

• Finally finished up all those college essays and applications!  
• Fun Fact:  Without even knowing, he wrote one of his BYU essays on the exact same topic -- playing the piano -- that I did more than 20 years ago.  How's that for solidifying his place as my mini-me?  Hahahaha.

(He's such a good kid to humor my ridiculous requests.  In this case it was to wait to press send on his BYU application until I could take a picture of him doing it.)

• Successfully convinced me last weekend to put up the Christmas decorations.
• I mean, 2020 has been a dumpster fire of year, so why not start spreading some Christmas cheer a little earlier than we normally do??  I think the kids were surprised that I agreed so readily to their request, but we really do need a little Christmas now.  :)

(The perfect addition to my little Christmas village.  😍)

GRACE

• Has blossomed during this election season into a real political activist -- if by activist we mean creating baked goods to commemorate her favorite candidates and then DM-ing them with pictures of the final product.  Hahahahahahahahaha. 
• (Truth be told -- I get quite a kick out of Grace.  Hahahahaha.  She certainly makes life un-boring.)

• Continues to rock that home CEO life, posting schedules of important Zoom meetings on her door to make sure everyone stays out (and stays quiet).  
• In all seriousness, though, she's been doing school from home quite a bit these days.  She's had really bad headaches off and on for the last several weeks and I've taken pity on her and let her stay home (but still getting school done virtually) on more than one occasion.

SOPHIE

• Giving Grace a run for her money on the political baked goods front, Sophie has really come to play as well.  Hahahaha.
• All three of the girls have become VERY politically aware over the last couple of months and it's been quite a vibe.  I mean, I love how much they care about our country and want to be in the know of what is happening around them.  I don't love quite as much that they get most of their "news" and information from TikTok.  But we all have room for improvement, right?  Hahahahaha.

• Has discovered a latent talent for fashion design.
• I'm not even sure what class these drawings were for, but I was beyond impressed when I saw her sketches.  Sign this girl up for Project Runway!  (Fun Fact: the high school here DOES actually have a Project Runway class.  I'm trying to convince Sophie to sign up for it next year, but we'll see how that goes.)

JANE

• Has really mastered the art of the selfie.  
• (Or at least the art of swiping my phone constantly and taking pictures of herself and occasionally others.)

• Has been feeling her feelings on an all new level these days.
• Being 11 is rough.  (For both the 11 year old and the ones around her.)  I can't tell you how many times this week I've wanted to call my sister Sarah -- the third-born of the first three girls in my family -- and apologize to her for whatever I may have done to make her life miserable as her older sister when we were kids.  Because I'm really hoping that Grace and Sophie will have a similar impulse in about 20 years or so.

ALEX

• Got his braces off this week!!!
• FINALLY!  He was just doing a phase 1 treatment for now (to make more space for his back molars to come in), but it still seemed like it took forever for the gap in his front teeth to completely close.

Before

After

• Learned a lot about the electoral process at school.
• (I'd say more, but I promised him I'd stop talking about it because I made the mistake of telling Grace about one of the slides he filled out for an assignment, and she mentioned it to him and he flipped out because it made him feel so self-conscious/embarrassed.)

What do you think makes someone a good presidential candidate?

ALEX:  If they do the stuff they said they would and be nice

What question would you ask a candidate at a caucus?

ALEX:  Why do you want to be president

Why do you think we have these requirements to vote?

ALEX:  Because if we didn't kids would be able to vote and everything will be messed up

ISAAC

• Desperately needs a haircut, but won't let me touch his "crazy hair."
• Hahahahahaha.  That kid.  But seriously -- the hair is crazier than it's ever been.

• Thinks he should totally get a phone for Christmas since he's 5 now.
• As if!

Can you guess which one Isaac likes the best because his face "looks the coolest" in it?

(It's Pose 2)

ME

• Basically falling apart these days.
• Maybe it's because I turned 40 this year and I'm just sliding down the other side of the hill, but I've had so many random aches and pains the last month or so and I don't like it!  Ever since I had Covid, my left shoulder has bothered me (weird, I know, but I had weird random joint pain while I was actively sick and I think I somehow tweaked my shoulder during that time and it's never gone away); I threw my back out last Sunday when I bent over to pick something up; AND I've had major wrist pain the last couple of days that I think might be tendinitis, but I don't know for sure.  Womp womp.  Hahaha.

SCOTT

• Still winning that bread and bringing home the bacon, too.
• Poor Scott, he's probably more in need of next week's Thanksgiving break than any of the rest of us.  Work has been stressful lately (what with the pandemic and all), but he keeps on keepin' on, and I'm extra, super grateful for that.

And that's a wrap!  With Thanksgiving coming up next week, I've been thinking a lot about gratitude while reflecting on this past year.  We had a family activity a few weekends ago, where I felt impressed to challenge everyone to think about and share some of the things that have been GOOD (or even great) this year that only happened BECAUSE of Covid/quarantine.  It was a really helpful activity!  We have certainly been blessed in interesting and unique ways that wouldn't have come to pass if this had been an ordinary year.  For instance, after we realized back in March that we weren't all that prepared, Ethan was able to create our food storage system (aka "The Rations") from scratch; over the last several months, Sophie has become a bread-making expert; Grace and Sophie have both became master cake decorators; I mean, I wrote a book; we've had PLENTY of family bonding time -- which, yes, has had its moments of aggravation, but has overall been a blessing, especially knowing that this is our last year with all the kids still at home; not having to go anywhere or do anything for the bulk of the year has been marvelous; and finally, having church at home each Sunday was beautiful, and I loved it.  So, yes -- there HAVE been good things happening right alongside the bad this year.  And isn't that life in a nutshell?  I believe it is.  

And with that, I'm out!  Happy Friday everyone!!!