Ammon spends a great deal of his life in this witch costume. I think his love of witches comes from his very favorite book, Room on the Broom.
In the afternoon we went to go pick a tree. I think Abe has those pictures (I hope!). I wanted a skinny tree, but I also felt very tired and couldn’t handle any trees that looked too tall. Lydia wanted a fat tree, so we settled on a small chubby tree. It’s pretty cute.
I had so much fun with Mary. She loved every. single. tree. and stood in this excited pose by her favorites that she really, really wanted to take home.More excited Mary.
When we got home, we got out all of the Christmas decorations, set up the tree, and had fondue for dinner.
Our Christmas mess.Ammon was so excited he wore his Santa hat to bed.
In the evening Abe and I had a wonderful date. We went to Target for some more Christmas decorations and ended up spending most of our time smelling candles. Then we got home and finished putting everything up:
On Friday I got up early to get all of my Christmas shopping done (online). In the middle of the morning, the girls called me down to a tea they had prepared with Abe’s help. He said that it was so cute watching them cooperate to make it happen.
It was a child’s dream meal, with popcorn, hot cocoa, cinnamon toast, and fruit. After we ate this “meal,” the girls excitedly announced we had caramels for dessert. The grownups laughed a lot when they made that pronouncement.
In the evening we drove to Park City to meet up with Karin, Jay, and Jere for a post Thanksgiving meal at the Marriot there. It was great to see Karin, Jay and Jere.
by the elevators
Unfortunately, Clarissa burned her hand on the fireplace while we were there and we had a horrible drive home as it snowed on us through Provo Canyon. At one point we hydroplaned, and there were a ton of cars off the road at that very spot. It was so scary, but I was so thankful to be the driver because I would not have been able to handle it as a passenger. Abe and my mom were great passengers and refrained from screaming, which is what I certainly would have been doing in their place. I was so thankful to get home safely.
On Thanksgiving morning I went to yoga and then rushed to get all of the rest of my cooking and chores done so I could finally do what I actually wanted to do, which was play games with the girls. I did get a game of Uno and some Bananagrams in before it was time to go to the Miners for Thanksgiving.
We went to the Miners around noon and got there around 1pm. We had a great time and the kids enjoyed playing Sushi Go! at the end. I wish I had pictures, but somehow I totally forgot to take any. I think Abe might have one, so when I get a chance, I will upload that to this post.
After we got home and put the kids to bed, I got a head start on Black Friday shopping online.
On Wednesday the kids had their first day of Thanksgiving break. In the morning we did music, and then I cooked for the rest of the day while the kids enjoyed some much needed free time.
Mary during practice.
In the evening after the kids were in bed, Abe and I went to the library to see a photography exhibit and check out books. We got in trouble when Abe started reading things to me in the stacks. I was embarrassed but Abe was so funny and didn’t seem to mind at all. It was a great date.
On Tuesday I went to yoga in the morning and Abe helped get the kids ready so I could stay longer than usual.
In the evening after we got the kids down, Abe and I went to the Morrells to minister. Rose Marie showed us her quilts and told me she would help me with mine. It was a sweet visit.
I wish I had more pictures of this day and more details about what happened. I am back blogging while watching a documentary about fasting, and so that is all I remember for now.
On Monday I let the kids have the day off from school so we all could go to Ogden and meet up with my friend, Ashley Keyes, her husband, Stephen, and her kids, Naomi and Benjie. They live in Texas but were in town for the holidays.
The museum was wonderful, and I had a lovely time chatting with Ashley. Ashley is a Brene Brown devotee and encouraged me to read Brene Brown while I was on bedrest. So we had a great time putting that reading to work, getting vulnerable, and bonding. I felt so connected to Ashley by the time we left around 3pm. I wish she lived closer! I also wish I had a picture of us together, but by the end Ammon was in the middle of huge tantrum. No picture possible. I did get some earlier of the kids:
Today I worked with the girls on our puzzle project. We are trying to get every puzzle in the house completed. We are not there, but we made progress!
We also had Jaden and Mallory over for dinner after church. It was so fun visiting with them. At one point Abe laughed so hard he cried. I always dread these dinners because of all the work getting ready for them, but afterward I am always so glad we did it. Anything good takes effort, so I just need to remember that next time I feel overwhelmed by the work ahead.
On Friday I naturally woke up at 5:22, so against all of my resolutions to sleep in, I got up and went to yoga. Then I came home and cleaned the house–and myself!–while Abe got the kids fed and ready for the day.
The rest of the day we spent napping and helping the girls with their practice. Also, the kids decorated the mini tree my mom got them:
When I woke up from my nap, Lydia begged me to go back to bed so she could bring me some cinnamon toast she made from the recipe book I gave her. (Abe helped her with the broiling part.) She also cut out hear shaped marshmallows and put them on a mug of cocoa, which I just happened to be craving! She was so proud of her snack. It was delicious and touching. I was too busy eating it to get a picture.
At 5pm we left to the Riverwoods to meet up with Karin and Jay.
When Clarissa and Ammon got antsy, Abe took them out to roast s’mores and see Santa, much to Ammon’s euphoric delight:
And then I took Ammon to the car to warm up while Abe let the girls roast marshmallows and see Santa too.
Lydia feels sad because she is worried Santa won’t come because of the locker incident. Abe and I are going to lift our home consequences for it because as we’ve talked about it, it’s become very clear to us that Lydia had no idea that her joke about a puppy would make the other student feel bad. She is a very kind girl.
When we came home, we put the babies to bed and did a quick puzzle with the girls before going to the Bogdens to minister. Mary wanted to fill her room with completed puzzles. She’s almost there. Maybe we can reach that goal Sunday.
On Friday morning we listened to Evita in preparation to go to Abby’s play that night. Ammon and Clarissa were great dancers to the music:
Then after school Mary had a performance class, so I took the other kids to the park during her class.
After we picked up Mary, Lydia wanted to go get flowers for Abby. I was feeling rushed and initially said we didn’t have time, but Lydia persuaded me by stating that she likes to do for other people what she would like them to do for her. I loved hearing the golden rule stated to clearly, so I caved and squeezed in that errand.
Then we went home, ate pizza, and went to Evita and the high school. It was so fun seeing Abby on stage!
I read Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness at Home today. I have a feeling I’ve read it before, but it caught my eye at the library yesterday. Some of her writing resonated strongly with me, and she made me think a lot about how to give the kids more free time. I don’t know how other kids have so much free time! I have to be a drill sergeant in order to hurry the girls through practice, homework, dinner, and getting ready for bed before they have ANY free time at all. I feel like if I let them have free time before all of that other stuff got done, they would just get increasingly tired and wouldn’t get their homework or practice done until 10pm or later.
But I wish they had more free time, I really do. So today I cut their practice down to thirty minutes, put them on a timer for homework and dinner—and even then they weren’t in their pj’s and ready for free time before 7pm!!! It’s so discouraging.
I am also worried that I am failing Ammon. He clearly needs more stimulation during the day than I can give him. I need to check out during Clarissa’s nap for my own sanity, but Ammon still hangs out next to me and asks for my attention regularly while I am either reading, cooking, sleeping (very lightly), or watching a documentary. I tried to preemptively stave off guilt by reading him a ton of books in the morning and by periodically reading to him and paying a modicum of attention to him during Clarissa’s nap, but by 1:30 my nerves were a bit thin. I was starting to find him…less charming than normal. Not because he was any less charming!! I was just worn out. So I put him in front of Amazon’s Room on the Broom (his very favorite movie in the whole world) and started cleaning and prepping dinner with some peace and quiet. Maybe I should enroll him in preschool…but then there’s the potty training issue. He adamantly refuses to potty train. So I guess I’m all he’s got for now. 🙁
On that note, this is a picture of Ammon coloring while I tried to check out.
