Monday was Abe’s birthday! It was kind of a downer day for him, actually, because he has been feeling so gutted by work. But he did get a nice long chat with his therapist in, and after work we went to Rodizio’s with Karin and Jay.
We adore Abe. I feel like I blog a LOT about how much I love Abe, so maybe since I’m back blogging and I have to get the kids up for school, I’ll skip my usual long posts on this subject. But I have never been more in love with Abe, and I am so grateful he was born–and made it to thirty five!! I love you, Abe!!
On Friday I had a Face Time chat with my dear friend, Thalia. I just love her and loved catching up so much.
Also, the girls went to school Friday! That was a first for the week. I’m still not feeling great, but I’m glad they’re mostly recovered.
I took the car in after school for a tune up, and after we picked up Cafe Rio for dinner. It’s so yummy.
Then we cleaned up, put the kids down, and watched a John Dehlin Mormon Stories video about the Swedish Rescue, and afterward we wound down with one of our art history documentaries. Abe didn’t have to stay up late working this Friday! That was so needed.
On Thursday I let the kids have ANOTHER sick day, even though Mary and Lydia only have colds and are really minimally affected at this point.
Clarissa asked for a dress up today! Well, she doesn’t talk, but she definitely communicates desire. So Abe submitted to her request.
And Lydia and I read Harry Potter in bed together. It’s been going 24/7 on the TV, and it’s so fun to re-read the books while Lydia reads them too.
On Wednesday we were all still down in the dumps, so I let the kids stay home from school AGAIN. I normally don’t like the background noise of television, but I’m starting to love having Harry Potter on all of the time because it feels like we’ve entered that world. I started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone so that I can catch up to Lydia, who is now on book five.
On Tuesday I let the kids stay home because everyone was still feeling yucky, but somehow we justified going snowshoeing in the afternoon for Abe’s birthday (even though his birthday isn’t for a week). The fresh air was good for us, right?
Abe and I had so much fun. All of the big kids thought it was an exhausting activity and had no problem broadcasting this opinion. Clarissa, on the other hand, cried until we let her participate.
Ammon fell asleep on the way to the trail, so he was very cranky at the beginning of the trail. After a while he cheered up, though!
The kids were sick and it snowed a lot on Martin Luther King day. I had grand plans of sitting everyone down to start the tradition of watching Selma together, but I was also sick and just let the kids watch Harry Potter a bunch while I rested inside. I did manage to do a lot of shoveling outside and put the kids in snow gear to enjoy the snow while I shoveled. Lydia built a snow man!
Today I woke up practically unable to move because I slept on my back wrong. Yoga helped a TON and now I feel loads better. But Abe also had a rough night and barely slept because of all of his work stress, so we both took it sooooo easy today. Well, as easy as you can take it with four kids.
I went to yoga, grocery shopped a bunch, and cooked red lentil, spinach and lime soup and prepped the mornay sauce for a mac and cheese dish this week. I also cleaned the house, which was completely trashed by the end of the day. It took a long time.
Clarissa is a little sick, and we feel bad for her. But we are so grateful that the rest of the family has basically stayed healthy for ELEVEN MONTHS!!! We are not immune deficient after all!!! It’s so amazing. Knock on wood.
Abe had a dance party to cheer Clarissa up. Ammon photo bombed the pic, and he is naked because I’ve learned that he poops the minute I put him in undies and clothes. So my new strategy is to leave him naked all the time that we are at home. He doesn’t really like it, but he never has any accidents when he is naked, so for my selfish sake, he will probably be naked all the time. Poor boy.
On Friday my friend, Candace, and her twins, Aria and Bentley, came over for a playdate. We visited while the kids played, and then Candace, Mary, Lydia and I all played Bananagrams.
Afterward we got in the car and picked up Abe. Candace’s mom, nephew and sister also joined and we all drove up to Midway to see the ice castles there. It was magical, and I want to go every year. The kids had so much fun exploring the castles, passageways, fountains, and slides. Lydia pretended to make ice cream out of the icicles and had a grand time offering everyone ice cream. Abe and I took turn pulling Clarissa along in the sled. She couldn’t sit up, so she just lay there with her hands hanging out of the sled. Every person we passed got a good laugh out of her.
At one point I bent down to pull Clarissa’s gloves on tighter, and then I stood up and Ammon was gone. I got panicky thinking about how cold it was, how it was going to be dark soon, and how he would never even think to be concerned about the fact that none of his family was nearby, because Ammon just assumes everyone is his best friend. Sure enough, ten minutes later Abe found Ammon happily chatting with some ice palace workers, and they were just starting to figure out that his parents had no idea where he was. That was a huge relief.
On Thursday morning I went to yoga, and Abe helped get the kids ready. Mary had a HUGE meltdown because she hadn’t done one of her assignments, and I lost patience with her because I felt I had really tried my best to help her get the assignment done, but she hadn’t cooperated. In reality, I could have made a better effort to help her. It was a very rocky start to the morning, and I wish I had been soooo much more patient.
Mary ended up forgetting something at home, so after feeding and reading to the babies, I loaded them in the car and headed back to school and bumped right into Mary when I entered with her binder. Mary looked so happy eating a birthday cupcake, and I was so relieved. When I picked Mary and Lydia up after school, I asked how Mary how her day went, and she replied that it was the “best day ever!” I guess her teacher was not hard on her and one of her friends also didn’t do the assignment, so it didn’t matter. PHEW.
For dinner we had an Indian feast. I made curried eggplant, curried cauliflower and chickpeas, and saag paneer (only with, er, tofu instead of paneer). I ordered chicken tikka masala and naan from our local Indian restaurant, and we had a huge dinner when Abe came home from work. It felt kind of like a Friday because the kids got Friday off.
I took Ammon and Clarissa to the library on Wednesday morning. The preschool program there is so good for Ammon, and I think the toddler’s story time is good for Clarissa, even if she has THE shortest attention span of all my kids. I never recall having a problem with Mary or Lydia at story time. In my memory, those two would pay rapt attention. Lydia was too shy at the time to do the motions or participate, but she would sit quietly and absorb it all. Mary would participate! I remember being so charmed by that novelty. And neither girl would even contemplate wandering around the library during story time.
Ammon was, um, different. He would roam all around, but he was also curious about story time, so he would also pay intermittent attention.
Clarissa pays attention for three minutes, max. And then she’s antsy and wants to play. I have made the mistake of releasing her from her stroller, but I’ve learned that if I do that, I will pay the price when it’s time to put her back in. Her screams are deafening! So now I just take her to story time for two or three minutes, walk quickly around the library checking out books for myself or for the kids, and then go back to story time for another two minutes. And even then we just barely stave off the tantrum Clarissa is dying to throw…
She’s momentarily captivated, but you can almost see that her body is about to manifest how restless she feels inside.
But she is so cute. I had so much fun with her during the night routine because Ammon was asleep and the girls were at dance. It was just the two of us, and I got to just sink into watching Clarissa and talking with her. She is very conversational, even though she hardly ever forms a recognizable word. She points and communicates splendidly. We had such a good time.
Lydia was very happy because she is now old enough to go to Activity Day Girls. It’s at 7pm, which is normally the time she is supposed to be in her bedroom (not sleeping, but doing quiet things). She was so thrilled to be out of the house instead!
While she was gone, Abe and I had a special snack with Mary. We asked her lots of questions and smiled at her cute answers and mannerisms. Her eyes get very wide when she is being sincere, and she has the most adorable, raspy little voice.
