Abe allergies – Darais Days

Saturday: done.

This morning was Lydia’s first day of dance at her new studio. We dropped her off and headed straight to Toys ‘R Us to pick up a birthday present for Espen. While we were there, Mary took a ride on the Tigger boat.

Mary wanted to buy: wrapping paper and an Elmo book.

Then we picked up Lydia, raced to the farmer’s market, bought produce, and headed to Espen’s party at the Kangaroo Zoo. The girls had a blast bouncing on everything. Honestly, I get anxiety in places and parties like that, but that notwithstanding, we had a great all around time.

Then we came home for some naps and quiet time. After that, we headed over to Fleur’s house. Anique is a flight attendant and away this weekend, and her dad is watching Fleur. She called and asked if we could go play with Fleur a little bit since she was having a hard day. I don’t think our presence helped Fleur much, but the girls sure had fun!

Fleur and her grandpa, Tom. He was such a nice man. I can see where Anique gets it from!

Then we raced to the library to pick out some books and raced to church for stake conference. After church, we hurried to pick up Lalitha and Eden to take them grocery shopping…and then Abe, the girls and I came home and all collapsed. I am ready to be done with this day.

Quick Post

It’s getting late, so I’ll mostly focus on pictures (Abe here):

I had a great day a work, listened to Huckleberry Finn in the car and went on a great run at home.

Lily had a great time playing with the girls, got to see some more Downton Abbey and made a delicious Samon supper.

Lydia has been darling and extremely well-behaved.

Mary has been super cute and shouting the few words she knows at the top of her lungs “No!” “Buuh!” (for bird) etc.

We are all loving the weather and we spent time eating, painting, playing and enjoying icecream outside. Pictures!!

Church, Friends and Sunshine

It is very late and I get up quite early so I will be brief. Today was a fantastic day. Everyone woke up late (I think we are all sluggish from allergies), but we made it to church before the end of the first meeting. In Elder’s Quorum, I learned about the power of the Book of Mormon while Lily tended Mary in nursery. Eventually, Lily was able to slip out, so we both met up in our gospel doctrine class where we learned about the story of Ruth and Naomi in the old testament. Lily made the great observation that Christ and David were decended from Ruth and both displayed incredible faithfulness, loyalty and devlotion just as Ruth did to Naomi. Sacrament meeting was mostly dominated by Lily and I taking care of the girls and minimizing screaming.

After church we ate and then Mary went down for her nap. During that time, Lily continued getting some R&R to get over her bug and enjoyed Downton Abbey and I read scriptures and learned some very neat things. Specifically I learned that to fully embrace truth, we must often unlearn things we thought were true in the process (to make room for the truth and to not contaminate it by mixing it with falsehood.) Truth cannot be fully operative in our lives if it is constrained by competition with falsehoods were are also holding onto.

When Mary woke up, I took her into her bedroom where Lydia was watching Veggie Tales on the laptop. Lydia was so sweet to Mary when Mary entered! Lydia said, “Mary, come here! Come sit with me in this tent, here I will make a place just for you. I have your special pillow right here Mary. Mary, do you want to come in the tent and watch the show with me?” Mary obliged and joined Lydia in her tent (see below). Lydia was so excited to have her buddy, Mary, watch the show with her and it touched my heart to see her enthusiasm to spend time with her sister. Sure, it devolved into crying on both ends within fifteen minutes (Mary thought the laptop was a touch-screen, which it wasn’t and Lydia was very distraught about Mary’s misuse), but Lydia’s initial intent was very touching.

Later in the afternoon we all went to Bobby and Ashley Bassett’s home where we had dinner with them and Caleb and Marissa. The food and story telling were all great. We exchanged stories fo how we all met our spouses, where we grew up etc. and it was all so delightful. Dinner was an amazing Mexican casserole with Crepes for desert and the rolls Lily brought for our contribution were fantastic.

Well, so I guess I wasn’t so brief. Writing is fun!

A Nice Saturday

Lily woke up early to go to school where she made chicken and pork sausage, which she thought was disgusting. She did, however, manage to enjoy being there. At home, the girls slept-in until 9:00 which was great for me because I’ve been feeling very fatigued with my allergies kicking in. When they woke up I fed them and then we played around the house and I fed them again. Abou that time Lily came home and we all ate together. Mary then went down for her nap and Lily and Lydia plugged into their respective Ipads.

Lily has been absolutely hooked to Downton Abbey and Lydia wathes kids’ shows on netflix (Thanks Clark and Swathi!). I can see why Lily is so hooked because I’ve watched some of it with her and it is really engaging. I particularly like the character Mr. Bates. Lily announced this evenening that she has watched a whole season of Downton Abbey in one day, which is true, although each seaon only has about six or seven episodes.

While Mary napped I made great progress on a personal writing project I’m working on and then we all got up and went to Costco. We’ve wanted to go for months and we finally made it! My favorite thing we got was our four pound case of strawberries, Yum!

Back at home we ate chicken, blueberries and chips outside for dinner. Afterwords I took the girls to the park while Lily rested and watched more Downton Abbey. I’m really glad she got to kick back today. She has so many demands during the week that she didn’t have any chance to recover from being sick. I hope the R&R she got today will help her get over her bug and be ready for the week ahead.

Pictures!

Lydia has been eating at least three bannanas. This is the stash we bought to get us through the week!

Discouraged by organized

I felt kind of discouraged today. I’ve been keeping track, and I went on antibiotics at the end of April/beginning of May because I had had a stuffy nose since January. After barely a month of reprieve, it feels like my sinus infection is back for good. I am trying not to feel depressed, especially since I know as trials go, this is pretty minor.

Abe didn’t have a great day either, and his allergies are hitting pretty hard.

I baked muffins with Lydia this morning and then it felt like we spent a lot of time eating outside at various times throughout the day. In the afternoon, Lydia begged to paint, so I took the girls to the basement so Lydia could paint. After that, I collapsed on the couch with the girls and watched Peter Rabbit until Abe came home–an hour early! Hooray!

We foraged for dinner and I disappeared to the basement to iron and get laundry done. When I emerged, I found Lydia sulking in her room after her seventh tantrum today (I counted), Mary playing with her binkies in her pack’n play, and Abe passed out on the floor. He mumbled that he’d hit a wall, and I took that as my cue to lie down (again) until we all decided it was time to do something with our lives.

Abe and I spent the rest of the evening organizing the girls’ clothes and sorting old/seasonally-inappropriate clothing into bins. We have been on an organizing kick lately, and it felt sooooooooo good to have that done.

When that project was done, it was already 9:40pm, and so we thought it wise to send our tired children to bed.

After Fablehaven, I am in the mood to get addicted to something again, so I think we’re going to watch Downtown Abbey now. I’ve never watched it and am really excited.

Here are a few pictures I took of Mary encroaching on Lydia’s territory:

Sibling Rivalry

Abe blogging here trying to make things a little easier on Lily since she is still very sick. She is so sick that she drove to school tonight before her class to take care of a financial aid appointment and tell her teacher she would have to miss due to illness. Apparently her teacher was not so forgiving during their conversation because she ended up staying for all of class. She definitely has less flexibility because of all the class she missed due to our trip. But, she just got home and I’m happy to report she made it through!

During the day, Lily read book 3 of Fablehaven, ate cupcakes with the girls outside for breakfast (reminding her of a Bill Cosby skit about chocolate cake) and babysat for Sarah (who has the most well-behaved kids in the world). During class she had her knife skills test and she passed!

As far as my day, work is going very well, but the pace is very dizzying. It’s not just my pace, it’s the company’s pace. We are trying to double revenue and staff every year. I started 5 months ago when the company had 400 people and now they have about 500 people. Everyone everywhere is running around working as fast as possible to try to make history at building an extremely successful tech company. Our quotas are aggressive and there is literally no time to come up for air. I absolutely love it, but today I felt the strain of the pace a little more than usual, I think possibly because my allergies were kicking in.

At home I played with the girls. Lily and I have put a lot of thought and prayer into Lydia because she has been such an emotional and behavioral mess lately. She cries all the time and refuses to do anything we ask. The challenge for Lily and I is to know how to respond (and to have the strength to respond the ways we think we should). Well, tonight I didn’t get any major epiphanies about how to help Lydia, but I think I learned what all of her distress centers around. Do you remember a few blog entries ago when Lily mentioned how with Mary’s new rule that she only gets binkies in her crib, she climbs in there multiple times a day sometimes for hours? Well she did that tonight. She climbed in and proceeded to read a book for twently minutes while she joyfully sucked her binky. At that point (with Mary effectively removed from existence, trapped in her crib), Lydia became the most angelic well behaved girl. She’d say please and thank you and oblige any time I told her we had to do something else or that play time was over. I couldn’t believe it! As soon as I retrieved Mary from her crib (she can climb in, but not out) Lydia resumed her screaming, crying and throwing toys.

I think I’m going to try to give Lydia a little Mary-free time each day. I think she needs a little space!

Pictures!!!

Lydia told me that she had a playdate with Nathan and he was very nice and she (Lydia) was super sweet — Lydia told me that she had a play date with Nathan and he was very nice and she (Lydia) was super sweet

Hannah talks really well just like Lydia and she's not even 2 yet! — Hannah talks really well just like Lydia and she’s not even 2 yet!

Lily made the salad towards the front and spent the rest of the time on her knife cuts mid-term

Sunny Sunday

If I have to be sick, I want every day to be like this. It was sunny and glorious, and even though I spent most of church feeling miserable and so sorry for myself, the rest of the day was terrific. Thanks to Abe’s efforts and the kids’ long naps, there was lots of down-time. I even started reading the next Fablehaven book, and it’s proving to be much better than the first one.

Here are today’s pictures:

We ate dinner outside again. It was so nice I forgot I was sick for a little bit.

I was sitting at the table eating and marveling at how green everything is. I just love, love, love verdant scenes.

Lydia still has not figured out how to glide on her balance bike, but that doesn't stop her from walking around on it. — Lydia still has not figured out how to glide on her balance bike, but that doesn’t stop her from walking around on it.

Abe was dying to trace the girls' outlines and color them in, but the girls were scared. So he finally begged us to trace him. Here's Lydia coloring Abe's outline. — Abe was dying to trace the girls’ outlines and color them in, but the girls were scared. So he finally begged us to trace him. Here’s Lydia coloring Abe’s outline.

Whenever Mary wants praise, she just folds her arms like she's going to pray. We all go nuts. — Whenever Mary wants praise, she just folds her arms like she’s going to pray. We all go nuts.

After all the fun with Daddy's outline, Mary wanted in. — After all the fun with Daddy’s outline, Mary wanted in.

Then we returned inside and wondered how to spend the rest of the evening. At that very moment, who should call but Clark and Swathi! We Skyped with them for an hour. That’s always a highlight of my week. As soon as we said good-bye to them, the doorbell rang. It was Suzanne!

Mary spent approximately an hour picking out cards from our various piles, sorting them, and handing them to all of us.

Returning from card distribution duty with a sense of satisfaction.

And I have Suzanne to thank for the decongestants I am about to take. Here’s hoping for a great night’s sleep!

Planting Seedlings and plans for cheese

This morning, Mary slept-in until 10 AM. It was amazing. Lily took advantage of the time to clean the bathroom, wash, dry, fold and put away laundrey and get a lot of other things done. When sleepy-headed Mary got up, Lily and the girls planted the seedlings that Aria gave us last night (see pictures from yesterday!).

[change in blog authors] Abe is exhausted from allergies, so he stopped blogging and it’s Lily now. I’m just going to throw up the pictures from today:

Waving bye-bye to Abe and Mary before class (Lydia was asleep in the car). It was especially hard to leave Mary today--she was only awake three hours of the entire time I was with her! (And one of those hours we spent driving to school in the car.) — Waving bye-bye to Abe and Mary before class (Lydia was asleep in the car). It was especially hard to leave Mary today–she was only awake three hours of the entire time I was with her! (And one of those hours we spent driving to school in the car.)

I made cheese tonight. This is fromage blanc and mascarpone.

I also formed mozzarella. We didn't make the curd, so I'm hoping we do that sometime in the future. I asked Chef if we could take cheese home, and he agreed. When he saw that I had packed six pounds of cheese, he made me put some back. Sorry, but it was really good!! I had great plans for that six pounds of cheese... — I also formed mozzarella. We didn’t make the curd, so I’m hoping we do that sometime in the future. I asked Chef if we could take cheese home, and he agreed. When he saw that I had packed six pounds of cheese, he made me put some back. Sorry, but it was really good!! I had great plans for that six pounds of cheese…

seedlings and such

Today was a really easy day. I loaded the kids in the jogger this morning and went to Marilyn’s house for visit teaching. I love visiting her and today ended up visiting until lunch. Then I trekked back home and fed the kiddos.

Mary proceeded to nap for four hours, during which, I am sorry to say, Lydia spent the time glued to the iPad. I took a two hour nap and then did homework for two hours.

Then it was feed-the-kids time again and off to school. Tonight we made cheeses, another terrine and a broccoli mousseline.

When I arrived home, I discovered this:

Yesterday I told Aria about how I'd killed all of my seedlings. While I was at school, she dropped off all of these!! I was so touched by her thoughtfulness. Now I need to end my blog so I can e-mail her a thank-you. — Yesterday I told Aria about how I’d killed all of my seedlings. While I was at school, she dropped off all of these!! I was so touched by her thoughtfulness. Now I need to end my blog so I can e-mail her a thank-you.

Abe’s allergies hit him hard today, so he’s already asleep. Just one more email, and maybe I’ll get another good night’s sleep again, too!

Happy Easter!

I have a ton of cute pictures from Easter, so we’ll just get to the good stuff right away:

Then after church and naps, we headed to the Miners’ for dinner and their Easter egg hunt. That was egg hunt #5 of the season for the girls.

The girls posed with a bunny and had a little scuffle about who got to hold the bunny.... — The girls posed with a bunny and had a little scuffle about who got to hold the bunny….

...Mary won that fight. — …Mary won that fight.

I made rolls again to bring to the dinner. (This was the small pan.)

Egg hunt:

Frankie, the dog, wasn’t interested in the eraser Mary repeatedly offered. But he didn’t mind being petted. That was great, since Mary spent a lot of time chasing him down to pet. Lydia prefers to keep a very healthy distance from dogs.

Then we came home, Skyped with Clark and Swathi, talked with my mom, picked up the house, and now will hopefully get a jump start on early bed time for the week. Happy Easter!

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