Lily sick – Page 5 – Darais Days

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!

Easter Eve

Today was packed, and Abe and I have yet to make Easter baskets and hide eggs, so quickly:

I got up at 5:30am to make it to yoga this morning. By the time I got home, Abe was in an apron making pancakes for all of us. Well, actually, Lydia made them:

Then she had an accident, which meant she had to take a shower, which meant that I got to do her hair while it was wet, which meant I got to practice my ladder braid!

I also did Mary’s hair for the first time. She didn’t like it.

Then I did a couple hours of homework while Abe played legos and other games with the girls. We fed them lunch, put Mary down for a nap, and then I practiced the piano for a couple hours. It felt positively luxurious to play whatever the heck I wanted to play. But it was a gorgeous day, and Abe and Lydia were outside enjoying the day and helping Ron and Shirl, so I finally quit and joined them outside. I found Abe reading his scriptures in the sunshine while Lydia drew chalk pictures next to him. No camera nearby, but it was cute.

Then we packed up the girls for the library, groceries, and the park:

By the time we got home, it was almost dark, so we hurried to plant our new tomato plants and then scurried inside to get dinner ready. Abe and I taught the girls an FHE lesson on Christ’s death and resurrection, and Lydia grilled us with questions all throughout dinner. She was very concerned about the nails-in-hands-and-feet part, which made me wonder if I should have diluted the story more.

At any rate, the girls didn’t get to bed until almost two hours past their bedtime tonight. We are going to have a tough time being on time for church tomorrow…

Take your family to work day (Egg hunt #3)

Mary locked herself in my mom’s room this morning for several hours. It was very scary, but I was grateful for the assurance of the Spirit. I kept getting the feeling that it would be okay, and it did turn out okay. Our landlord came over and explained that he used to get locked in rooms all the time as a child, and his mom would pop the lock with a crochet needle. I had been trying to pop the lock with all sorts of things, but we tried a key (imagine that!) and it worked great. Mary was contentedly playing with a doll when we got her, and I was SO happy to pick her up and hug her.

Right after that, I loaded the girls in the car and we drove to Abe’s work for their Bring Your Family to Work Day. They had amazing food, a quick presentation, and an Easter egg hunt for the girls. The girls are getting to be pros at finding Easter eggs by now, and even Mary has the drill down.

Abe and the girls in the parking lot. I wish I'd gotten a closer shot because they looked so cute. Lydia talked the whole way down about how she was going to give her daddy a big hug and kiss because she missed him. After we left, she talked about how happy she was to see her daddy during the day. It was sweet. — Abe and the girls in the parking lot. I wish I’d gotten a closer shot because they looked so cute. Lydia talked the whole way down about how she was going to give her daddy a big hug and kiss because she missed him. After we left, she talked about how happy she was to see her daddy during the day. It was sweet.

I practically fell asleep driving back home, and I guess the girls were as tired as I was. When we got home, all three of us slept for three hours. Okay, okay–I woke up after an hour and a half, but then I lay on the couch reading food blogs until the girls woke up. They woke up right when Abe got home.

After Abe got home, we went on a run in the canyon. It was a lovely Spring evening, and my favorite trees are in bloom. They smell soooooooo good. When we got back, Abe ate dinner outside while the girls and I (who had already eaten) ran around the yard hunting down flowers to smell, mint to pick, and robins to watch.

I even got some practice in when we went back inside, although today I decided that I am not doing my competition. Maybe I will do one next year, but I really want to prioritize the time I have with my grandma, and there’s no way to know if I’ll be done with my round in time to make it to the reunion dinner. Also, I don’t want to pay $175 just to withdraw after the first round, so I think it makes more sense to postpone competing. When I practiced tonight, I enjoyed it so much; I was bored with my competition pieces, and so now I’m giving myself a chance to play other stuff.

Yay for a great start to the weekend!

Content

I only have a couple pictures today. This one I took this morning while I was doing homework. The girls were angelic today and let me do hours of homework while they entertained themselves:

During Mary’s nap, Ron and Shirl replaced a window in the house. Lydia was curious and at one point left the house to watch. I was upstairs reading when I heard the front door bang, and I knew Lydia had just let herself out to watch them. So I hurried downstairs and ended up reading to Lydia on the lawn. She was really excited because Puss got to come, although she was a little worried he’d blow away in the wind…

Then I went to cooking school and made a bunch of stuff for my Latin class.

a turkey with two special salsas, fresh cheese (I made it for the first time and couldn't believe how easy it was!), pickled onions, and a bunch of other stuff — a turkey with two special salsas, fresh cheese (I made it for the first time and couldn’t believe how easy it was!), pickled onions, and a bunch of other stuff

Abe had another great day at work. The girls were wonderfully behaved today, and now it’s time for bed. Good night!

Good people

Abe is already in bed, so this will be quick.

The most notable things about today were 1) Ina came over and watched the girls so I could do whatever I wanted for three hours. Ina is a saint. She is a woman in our ward who loves my children, and she’s been telling me for years she will babysit for free. I never want to impose, but I have been rather desperate to get to the temple, so finally I asked for her help. When she got here, I realized I’d misplaced my recommend, so I went swimming and grocery shopping instead. Ina is such a huge blessing. Abe and I have been fretting about getting to the temple more, and she was so genuine in her offer to watch the girls whenever we want that I think we will avail ourselves of her sweet help in the future. I am so touched by how much she loves my children, and I am impressed by her giving heart. I could tell she honestly just enjoyed serving, and I hope to be more like her when I grow up!

2) We had dinner with Jill, Ty, their four kids, Katie, Pat, and their three kids. Jill texted me this morning about getting together, but I have school on the other free night she suggested, so we just did it tonight. It was so fun. We forgot to take pictures, but when Abe went upstairs to gather the children, I asked him to take a quick picture first.

Also, I watched a Youtube video and decided to try a new hairstyle on Lydia:

Easter egg hunt round two

It was a packed day. First, I took the girls to the store to buy some eggs to stuff for their second Easter egg hunt of the season. Misty arranged a wonderful hunt with her play group at Ensign Peak Park. The day was sunny and clear, and the bright eggs hidden green field nestled right underneath the mountain made for a picture perfect hunt. The only down side was that the sun was so bright, I couldn’t see my phone’s screen at all, so I had to take pictures completely blindly and hope that something would come out.

Then we came home and ate lunch. After lunch, I put Mary down for a nap and then dyed Easter eggs with Lydia.

Then Mary woke up and had a snack.

Then I went to school and cooked some salads. They looked a total mess because we were in such a rush to plate them.

Pear salad with so many steps it made my head spin. Roasted pears, fanned out. Sliced raw pears. Blue cheese tart. rehydrated cherries. Port wine reduction. Bacon bits. Pear vinaigrette. Aghhhh! And that is why I ended up just throwing it all haphazardly on the plate and saying: Done.

Salads should have a liner and a garnish. My liner made my salad look like a butterfly... — Salads should have a liner and a garnish. My liner made my salad look like a butterfly…

Abe had a great day at work and we feel God’s hand operating in that arena of life. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him at all so I’m going to end this post, shower, and go to bed. Maybe if he’s still awake I can actually talk to him for more than thirty seconds!

A perfect Spring day

Really, it was. This day felt perfect. Having sunshine made all the difference! Even though Abe and I anticipated being zombies because we got so little sleep last night, both of us had great days. We credit God and the sunshine for that. That the girls were really quite adorable all day long helped too.

I got in: a walk to the library, baby book club with Misty, a nap, reading more in The Triple Package, a lot of homework, some ironing, a long walk with Abe and the girls, Bikram yoga, cooking a veggie phyllo roll, picking up the house, doing laundry, folding some laundry, feeding the girls three meals, setting the girls up to craft and watercolor, reading to the girls, a couple phone calls with my mom and grandma and even forty minutes of piano practice. It was an abnormally productive day. As my dad used to say, “variety is the spice of life!” This day had spice.

On the Abe front, he had another tremendous day at work. He raved to me almost the whole walk about how blessed he feels and how there is literally not one part of his day that he dreads. He looks forward to every task at work, and great stuff is basically falling into his lap for no reason other than that God must be looking out for him. Obviously, he’s doing his part, but he can not remember a time in his life where he has felt so abundantly blessed by an outpouring of God’s love.

The girls are cute. Mary said “Nana” to my mom on the phone today, and Lydia is very concerned about my grandma’s health. She kept asking how Grandma was feeling and doing. Here are some pictures Abe took of the girls while I was at yoga:

Fast Fast Fast

Everything in life is fast right now. On the way to work I listen to 6 chapters in 3 Nephi for my ward’s 40 days of Holiness. As soon as I walk through the door at work, I juggle prospecting expectations, trainings to attend, product learning, meeting preparation, meetings to attend and general housekeepings. I leave every day feeling like I’m leaving a mountain for the next day. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. It is very fast.

Lily’s life is fast as she chases around our daughters, prepares for her piano competition, goes to school full time and keeps food on the table. Today, chasing the kids involved a play-group Easter Egg hunt for the kids. It looks like they had a lot of fun.

As usual, I met Lily halfway at her school on my way home from work. It was so nice to see her, if even for a moment. At home, it was dinner, bathing, night routine and then cleaning.

I will say, there was a moment during the children’s night routine when everything slowed down. It was right around the time that Lydia was having Puss bark like a seal and I had a moment where I just looked at her and felt pure joy. There she was. So perfect, innocent, playful and happy, in her own little world. Watching her be happy brought a flash of my own childhood joy and it was like drinking from a well of youth for my soul. I love my children. Lydia also explained to me that she wants Daniel to stay a stuffed animal because tigers are scary, but Puss and Tabitha can grow up and become real in about a year just like the velvatine rabbit. Meanwhile, Mary has been stacking all of her blankets and stuffed animals into one corner of her crib so she can try to get a let up on capitulating herself out of the crib. I had to take away everything except three small blankets, a pillow and a tiny stuffed animal for fear that she would actually succeed.

Pics!

A peaceful day

First things first: We had another scare with Grandma Darais today, and we went down to Provo this afternoon to say goodbye. It turned out that we didn’t have to say goodbye just yet, for which we are thankful. There’s still hope she can pull through, and we are praying for her and her children to have strength for whatever comes.

I found out about Grandma Darais while I was walking to the Capitol to meet Misty. The trees are all in bloom, and it was just a lovely walk. We stood in the sunshine and chatted at the end while Lydia and Sophia read a book together. Mary was sick today, so she just sat in the jogger and looked sadly out the window.

Then we went to Provo to see Grandma Darais. We came home with Suzanne and stopped by In-n-Out for dinner. The girls got stickers.

Lydia did not want to eat dinner after her fries, but she did drink some bubble bath…

Mary was feeling sick all evening, so she was extra cuddly. I have the cutest picture of her cuddling with Abe, but it won’t send from my iPad.I did get some of them cuddling in the girls’ room, though. And when I announced that I was going to take a picture, Lydia dashed for her camera so she could take a picture. As a result, I have a picture of Lydia taking a picture. =)

She need to work on aim... — She need to work on aim…

Packed

I am at the climax of my book, The Family, by David Laskin, and I really want to get back to it. So here’s the run-down of today:

We started off by crafting all morning with Jen and her kids. I had a lot of fun chatting with Jen and making another Spring decoration, and Lydia loved wearing Natalie’s princess attire. Mary loved playing with Jen’s baby-proof iPad. We were going to go to Institute, but we missed it because paint takes a bit of time to dry.

Then we came home for lunch and naps. I spent the first hour and a half of quiet time devouring my book, and then I headed downstairs to clean and cook. Also, the piano tuner came today! I switched to a new tuner, and he did an amazing job. I loved chatting with our old piano tuner. He’d tell me stories and tear up quite regularly. He was a lovely, sweet older gentleman, but I wasn’t totally convinced that he was completely competent at tuning the piano. This new guy is amazing, and even though we didn’t sit around for hours chatting and crying (a la our old tuner, Doug,) he absolutely fixed the piano. I’m excited to practice tomorrow.

Then Jen came over for dinner with Natalie. One of her twins got really sick right before they were supposed to come over, so the boys stayed home with Eldon, but we had a ton of fun with Jen and Natalie. Jen regaled us with tales about the Samoan physique (Eldon is Samoan), and Abe and I came to the conclusion that she married a super hero. After one day of weight-lifting, her husband gets bruises on his back because the muscle has already grown that fast! She told us other stories that had our jaws dropping. I guess I never really thought much about the Samoan build before, but I am duly impressed by now.

Lydia told us that she spent the evening tumbling and climbing and giggling with Natalie, but she fell off a chair right at the end and had a little sad moment. We played a bit on the stairs, and I think she ended the evening feeling pretty good.

Abe had a great day at work, but he’s a little overwhelmed with his new job duties. This is his first week in his new position, and there is a ton of information to absorb. Qualtrics has a “clinic”; really just a red psychiatrist’s couch set up by the tech experts. Whenever the salesmen have technical questions with clients on the phone, they go sit on the red couch and get help. Abe visited the clinic several times today.

Right now he’s on a run past down town to retrieve our car from the auto shop. It’s been ready all week, but we never have time to go get it together. So tonight he just decided to run on foot and get it. Oh! There he is! I have to end if I want time to read my book.

Here are some pictures I took of Mary after she woke up. We played for a long time after she woke up from her nap because she was in a great mood. I tried to capture her fun on camera but failed miserably. She loved emptying her pack ‘n’ play of all contents and I kept putting her stuff back in to keep her going. We also played a lot with her binky. She’s only allowed to have it at nap time, and she thinks it is hilarious fun when I put her binky in my mouth. I put in two at a time and then blew them over her crib, and she about died laughing. I have a video somewhere of Abe playing that game with Lydia to the same effect.

Anyway, here are the pictures, such as they are. Mary was a lot cuter in person.

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