On Monday morning the boys were darling playing chase and running around the house.
After Mary’s piano, Clark, Soren, Mary, Ammon, Clarissa and I ventured out to The Museum of Natural Curiosity. We all had a great time, and wow, it is SO much easier to do outings with another adult!
Sunday was stake conference, and I was still sick so I stayed home with Ammon, Clarissa, Clark and Soren. Ammon and Soren are so adorable playing together. I can’t get enough of watching the two of them interact. I especially love when they play chase or discover new games together. It’s really cute.
Later in the evening the kids all decorated the Christmas tree. Afterward we had pot roast and gluey mashed potatoes for dinner. Everyone was nice about the potatoes, but they were pretty gross.
In the morning Abe took the girls to The Christmas Carol. Chelsea gave us free tickets, which was so sweet of her. Abe and the girls loved the play.
In the afternoon my mom, Clark, and Soren arrived! Right before they came, Abe and the kids got a tree. I was feeling too sick to go with, but they were very sweet and picked out a tree everyone disliked except for me. I like the skinny sparse kind because they don’t feel like hulking clutter. I promised the girls we will get a nice, fat, bushy tree next year since they were so nice and let me have a skinny tree this year.
On Friday after school Abe came home and we packed everyone in the car, picked up our friend, Nick, and headed to Salt Lake for the Christkindlmarkt. It took us two and a half hours to get there because it seemed everyone was headed to Salt Lake.
The ride was a little hard on Clarissa, but Nick kindly kept putting in her binky and playing with the kids in between. Ammon would say, “TOOT!” and Nick would playfully bellow, “No toot, Ammon, no toot!” to which the kids would all break out into gleeful giggles. This happened over and over and over.
When we got to the Christkindlemarkt, we had just enough time to eat dinner from one of the food trucks before turning around and heading home. Nick had to work at 10pm, and we feared that we would make him late to his job. We made it with three minutes to spare!
The Christkindlemarkt was quite magical, but with four hungry, tired kids, I honestly couldn’t appreciate it. Maybe next year we’ll have a better experience. It was nice spending time with Nick, though.
Mary and Lydia were playing with stuffed animals in the evening. Lydia and Mary first called their game “doctor,” but then they figured out between them that the stuffed animals merited a change of game. They played “vet” instead, and here was their conversation:
Mary (Kitty): Can you help me? I’m going blind.
Lydia (Vet): What happened? Did you stare into a flashlight?
Mary (Kitty): No, I stared into the sun for two whole days. I got eye surgery and glasses, and it didn’t help.
Abe and I were amused at Lydia’s question, and we also thought it was cute that Mary worked her eye surgery and glasses into the game.
Today was a low key day. The kids are all getting sick, so I let them sleep in and we were fifteen minutes late to Lydia’s school. Considering the girls slept until twenty minutes before we were supposed to leave and that Ammon woke up five minutes before we actually left, I was happy with this.
For dinner I made spiralized zucchini with sausage and peppers. I hate sausage and have no idea why I conceived this dinner idea. I basically gagged my way through eating dinner, but Abe and the girls seemed to like it.
I took pictures of the girls’ art and journals today. Here’s Mary’s gratitude journal:
Here’s Lydia’s journal:
On Wednesday I cleaned a lot while the kids played near me. Ammon loved mopping the floor. After he had thoroughly mopped it, he and Mary made a nest. She gave him scratchies while he pretended to go to sleep. He picks his lip as he falls asleep, so he was really re-enacting the whole go-to-bed thing.\
And I took some cute pictures of Clarissa.
In the evening Ammon wanted to re-enact his going-to-bed routine on the floor again, and this time Lydia gave him scratchies.
I had fun dancing with Ammon on the floor after that. Normally I let Abe do the dance parties, but I was feeling happy and relaxed. It was a nice evening.
On Monday Lydia lost another tooth. She now loves singing about how all she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth.
On Sunday we took it easy before our flight home. Swathi and I worked out in the morning and I had my first experience on one of those bikes that has a screen for a virtual work-out. I forget what it’s called. It was fun.
Our flight home was kind of awful, but we had incredible angels help us on the way. Ammon was a total disaster, but sweet strangers shepherded us through the worst parts. One of our angels was a Christian English teacher who had spent four years in North Korea teaching (she was Canadian). Another was a German nanny named Agnes who helped us carry our heavy bags. I also appreciated every single smile we got from strangers. When Ammon was screaming and crying, those sympathetic smiles meant a lot. I hope I remember this when I am in a different stage of life.
When we got to Salt Lake, I felt elated. The weather was great, and Abe and I felt so amazing for having survived this really difficult leg of the journey. We were so, so happy all the way to our home.
Swathi was so sweet and scheduled us massages on Saturday. Mine was at nine in the morning, and it was the first time after Friday that I felt slightly calmed down. I loved the voice of my masseuse. She sounded like a professional story teller! Her voice was perfectly cadenced and was husky and musical.
I also loved the receptionist. She was one of the kindest, happiest people I have ever met in my life. She was one of those people you have trouble believing are real, but she was. And the massage itself was amazing. I loved it.
After the massage I joined the rest of the family across the street at a restaurant for breakfast. It was delicious, although I envied Janine’s order of brussel sprouts, bacon and grits. It looked like a delicious dish.
After breakfast Abe and Clark took the kids to the park. Some of the pictures below are from an earlier outing to the park on a different day, but I don’t remember when that was so I am just throwing them in here.
Speaking of undated pictures, we have this beauty taken I-have-no-idea-which-day:
In the evening we walked around Clark and Swathi’s neighborhood and ended up at a renovated YMCA that has since been turned into a restaurant and basketball court.
And Soren and Ammon took a bath together at the end of the day. They were so cute. Soren was singing “swimming in the ocean breeze!” and Ammon would chime in with “beez!”
