This morning over breakfast, Lydia turned to me and said, “Mama, what is it when I want something that Mary has?” I answered by telling her the word jealousy and explaining the concept a little bit. Lydia paused and then told me that Mary is a good sharer (which, for all of her hair-pulling antics, she really is). I agreed and then suggested Lydia could try to share more with Mary.
We ended the day full circle with Lydia screaming and crying on the ground because she wanted the pencils Mary had during our FHE craft. After a long post-tantrum cuddle, I asked Lydia what she was feeling, and she told me she was jealous. At least she knows, right?
The only eventful thing we did today that I don’t have pictures for is institute. We attended institute for approximately twenty minutes, at which point Lydia announced she was hungry and wanted to go home. I didn’t protest because the presenter was basically just summarizing Mark chapter by chapter. I was hoping for a little more commentary and a little less straight summary.
So I came home, fed the girls, and got a two hour nap in. Afterward, Lydia wanted to have a play date with Ada. I thought it was a long shot since it was already 3 pm, but it turned out that Paige was free! So we had a fun play date:
Then we had dinner and FHE, wherein we talked about gratitude and wrote a thank-you note for the Valentine chocolates our neighbor gave us all the way back in February…
Tantrum.The tantrum increases in intensity.Recovery.
We had so much fun with David, Karin and Jay at dinner that we accidentally stayed until 11 pm. We were the last ones at the restaurant, and now it’s almost midnight. In light of our desperate need to go to bed, I really just want to throw up pictures with captions and then go to bed.
Except! Except that I forgot to take pictures of my lunch with Misty, and that was a huge highlight of the day. Abe took a long lunch from work and took the girls to nearby IKEA for free food (kids eat free on Tuesdays) while Misty and I had our lunch date.
Misty and I went to my school’s restaurant, and the theme today was “Spring.” I forgot to take pictures of the food or the menu, but it was all very yummy. The starter was ahi tuna with rhubarb salsa…except that we couldn’t discern where the rhubarb was, even though we searched, searched, and searched some more. The second dish was a salad with bagna cauda (again, couldn’t quite figure out where that was) with a salad and bread stick. It looked pretty fancy. We ordered different entrees, and then had molten chocolate cakes with white mocha ice cream for dessert. The menu was set, and I am now really looking forward to my restaurant class where we get to put together these menus, plate them, and serve them to actual people. In my present class, we throw out most of the food we make because there’s never enough time to wrap it up to take home.
Strangely, the rest of the day felt fun and productive too, although I’m not sure how that happened because I’m still sick, queasy, and easily tired. I think the girls were just more self-sufficient than usual, so I got to get more done with less effort. Plus, Mary napped from 2 pm until 6 pm, and Lydia napped from 2 pm until almost 4 pm. That probably helped.
Then Abe came home and I frantically folded laundry until the last minute, when we picked up David and headed up Mill Creek Canyon to meet Karin and Jay at Log Haven. There’s a gorgeous waterfall right across from the restaurant, and the ambiance of the restaurant felt really…nice. The best part was just the conversation, but the food was amazing too. I should have taken a picture of my entree, but alas, I started eating before that could happen. We did, however, take a shot of Abe’s beet soup starter.
Still sick here. I can’t wait for summer. Abe and I both slogged through our days, but the girls were in pretty good moods today. That was a blessing, because I spent a lot of the morning working on my power-point for a school presentation today, and I practiced. The competition is coming up soon, and even though I’m planning on withdrawing after the first round so that I can attend a family reunion, I still want to do my best. All that to say, the girls were very patient with me today because I could have scored a lot higher in the attentive-mom department.
The girls entertained themselves, though. Mom, that’s one of the dresses you got for Lydia’s birthday. She loves it. it’s her BEST twirling dress, and she specifically requests it so she can twirl.
I did listen to Lydia tell me stories, though. That was so fun. Lately I’ve been making up stories for her about her cat because that allows me to exert minimal physical effort and yet still feel like I’m kind of on the job. Today I got the pleasure of being the audience while Lydia told me stories…mostly about a little boy who died because he didn’t listen to his mommy. Every time she concluded with his death, her eyes would get really round and she’d nod knowingly.
Pleasure abated slightly at that point. Maybe I am too vigilant about pointing out the potential hazards all around all the time. “Lydia, do NOT run across that parking lot because you could get hit by a car and DIE.” “Lydia, do NOT hang on that bookshelf because it could fall on you and you could DIE.” “Lydia, hold mommy’s hand while we walk on the sidewalk because there are driveways in front of us and you could get hit by a car and DIE.” Also, in the spring we get ants and then we spend a lot of time killing ants. There’s too much death in her life, it seems. Tomorrow I’m going to take a break from homework and ant-killing and instead point out all the new little plants and the baby partridges we have in the neighborhood. Perhaps a little more focus on life and beauty will give Lydia some new happy endings for her stories.
Speaking of happy, tonight on my drive home from school I listened to the radio, and one of my favorite pieces came on. Holst’s Jupiter turned a sleepy, windy commute into an actively joyful, at times downright glorious experience. I have a copy of it somewhere. Maybe I’ll play that in the background during my life-is-also-happy discussion with Lydia.
Staying on the topic of happy, I came home to discover my friend Paige had dropped off a plate of chocolate chip cookies. I dropped out of our preschool group this morning because I just feel too overwhelmed right now, and she kindly brought over a good-luck-on-finals treat with a super sweet note. I felt so happy eating my favorite food in the whole wide world, chocolate chip cookies, and reading her note. That really topped my day off in a terrific way.
And tomorrow is going to be a fantastic day! Misty and I have a lunch date, and in the evening Karin is taking us to Log Haven for David’s birthday! (He’s in town!) Wow. A double whammy of fun. I can’t wait. Better go to bed so I can wake up and have it be tomorrow already.
Here are the pictures Abe took while I was at school:
Mary Berry.
Then he asked Lydia to smile and look at the camera. She couldn’t manage to do both actions simultaneously, but she did get down a succession:
O-k, so Lily and I both woke up sick, but has actually turned out to be a really good change. I think it was the weather change combined with the work stress that got me. Lily also runs a really heavy schedule so maybe each of our bodies were just saying, “take a day to slow down,” and our bodies decided to communicate that message through soar throats and feeling ill.
But seriously, it was a good day. Lily had her best Saturday competition practice ever. She was trained on cake-making by the best chef at the school, Chef Ramsey, and Lily said her second cake that she made was the best in the class, even better than Chef Ramseys! (Your jaw can drop here) I’m really proud of the great work Lily is doing. Lily also shared an extremely comical moment when she was feeling incredibly tired and had the train of thought, “I wonder what would happen if I cracked an egg onto the middle of the counter.” And so she did. She cracked an egg, and while the raw egg mess was sitting on the counter, Chef Ramsey walked by, looked at it, and said, “um, are you o-k?” I thought was the most hilarious thing I’d heard all day. Lily is definitely having a good time.
I had a great time at home with the girls too. I was pretty whiped out from feeling sick, but we managed some good moments. Here are both Mary and Lydia fingerpainting in the basement.
After fingerpainting, we all ate brunch (becuase with kids there are six meals per day) and Lydia and Mary sat together at the table.
After this meal, I put Mary down to nap while Lydia played on her own. I got a good nap so I was able to play with the kids after Lily got home so she could get her rest in. After Lily rested we left the house to start the day at 4:30 PM.
Lydia was asleep within minutes in the car and Mary was happy just being alive in her car-seat. She used to hate being in her car-seat, but ever since we switched her into the green-grey and black one that Lydia used to use, she has done really well. It’s a very big seat, looks very comfortable and makes me think of a captains chair on a giant spaceship.
First I dropped of Lily at the main library and while she picked out books I got a healight and brake-light fixed at Jiffy-Lube. I really enjoyed watching the guy replace the bulbs and I figured to myself that next time I can probably save a buck and do it on my own. After I picked up Lily we went to subway because I was starving and needed something healthy because yesterday I binged on jelly-beans and buttered-popcorn and I was still feeling gross. After subway we all went to a playground at Liberty Park. We had fun, but didn’t stay too late because it was a little chilly. Then we went to Smith’s, came home, ate, bathed the girls, and put them to bed.
Since that time, I have taken a quick nap and put away all of our clutteriffic winter accessories into the basement, totally clearing out our hall closet. I also just finished the book of Ruth in the Old Testament which means I start Samuel tomorrow. Since being in the car on our errands, Lily has completely absorbed in the Elizabeth Smart autobiography she checked out. She is just finishing it now downstairs. I’m sure she’ll report on it tomorrow, but from what she told me so far, it is horrifying how evil her kidnapper is, but it is also inspiring how pure Elizabeth is and it is also inspiring reading how God comforted her and helped her very explicitly during that horrifying time in her life. Rest!
The girls went down for naps and quiet time super early today, and instead of doing homework like I should have done, I read a couple hours into The Return of the King. It turned out to be an apt read; while I was feeding the girls an after-nap meal, I killed about a dozen ants in my kitchen. I couldn’t help but think about Tolkein’s description of the Rohirrim in battle–specifically, I thought about how they sang as they fought. I didn’t feel like singing while I was killing ants, but the glimmer of satisfaction I felt helped me understand that initially bewildering passage a little better.
After the girls were fed, I took them outside to play:
Then I took them to the library, grocery shopping, the gas station, and back home. Abe arrived shortly after we did, and after dinner he bathed and chased the girls while I cleaned the downstairs and practiced. I was supposed to go to school tonight, but I’m feeling kind of icky and a brand new cold has introduced itself at our house. I am trying to avoid getting sick yet again.
Oh! I forgot to mention that while I was at school yesterday, Abe cleaned the whole house. I came home and fell in love with my husband all over again. It was soooooo nice, especially since I never feel like I have time or energy to clean these days. I hate the messes that accumulate, and having them gone has felt like THE greatest luxury. I’m going to try to be better at staying on top of the messes since today I enjoyed my mess-free life so much more than my regular mess-filled life.
Quick blog today. Lily is still on her way home from school and it is almost midnight. Yikes! I’m sure the reason she is late is because she has a big heart and she is giving rides to her classmates in need. She is so wonderful.
My day was a bit of a roller-coaster, but overall very good. My department is having a competition to see who can perform the best and I am pretty squarely in the middle of the pack. I sometimes get discouraged about my mediocrity, but it helps to remember how amazing everyone around me is at Qualtrics. They truly hire the best and I am so fortunate to be surrounded by such wonderful people.
I don’t know too much about Lily’s day. When we talked on the phone, she spent most of the time listening to my frustrations and giving me a pep-talk. She is seriously so supportive and perfect….o-k, I’ll stop gushing. I’m just so blessed to have someone who is always willing and capable of being my cheering squad when I need it. I truly love her.
But this is what I do know. She had a piano lesson with Lydia. Mary completely refused her eye-drops today. Lydia napped. Lily just got home and told me she absolutely loved cooking class today.
Pictures!
Crying while Lily does her homework
Mary under the bedLily’s plate from tonight. Isn’t it great! She says her secret is to copy the photo the teacher provides exactly.
Another amazing plating job by Lily. This is from last week, but we just now got it to load.
Happy birthday, Lydia!! We tried to make this the happiest, most fun day for Lydia we could think of. We started off by watching videos of when she was a baby while we cuddled and I told her how exciting it was to meet her this day three years ago. Abe headed downstairs to make pancakes with pureed strawberry syrup, which both girls had fun dipping their pancakes in.
My mom went to the church to fulfill our cleaning assignment so we could have the morning with Lydia together. She is the most selfless person I know. We are so happy to have her here!
Then Lydia and I baked the other half of Lydia’s cake while Abe played with Mary.
Abe did all the dishes while I read to the girls. Then my mom gave the girls matching dresses to wear for Lydia’s birthday. We took Mary’s off so she wouldn’t get it dirty climbing around the movie theater, but they played at home in their matching outfits (my heart pitter-pattering the whole time).
Lydia giving Mary a birthday kiss.
When Abe and I were both finally dressed and ready to go, all of us (including my mom!) headed to the Gateway where we had Dairy Queens before going to Frozen.
Tom joined us for the movie, and he was a great help when Mary escaped near the end and started climbing the stairs at the movie theater.
After the movie, we played outside in the sunshine for a while and let the girls run around. Lydia loved twirling in one of the new dresses Nana gave her for her birthday.
Then we headed to the library and read Lydia a book about birthdays. The protagonist was not only her favorite thing in the world–a cat–but she was wearing a startlingly similar dress to Lydia’s. Then we checked out some pink books in honor of her birthday and headed to the store to pick up some things before going home.
At home, we made frosting and assembled her yellow and strawberry cake. The strawberry turned gray when Lydia dumped in the sprinkles (THE essential ingredient of her cake, in her opinion).
I basically injected pureed strawberries into a regular buttercream icing, and while the result was tasty, the texture left a LOT to be desired. Basically, it fell off of the cake. But Lydia didn’t care since the cake was pink and full of strawberries, and after dinner she enjoyed the whole song-candle-blowing-cake-and-ice-cream-eating process.
Pinterest fail. Maybe I’ll learn how to make a successful, fresh, fruit icing when I take my baking and pastry classes.
Then Abe gave the girls baths and changed them into jammies before we opened presents.
Nana brushed their hair.
Eyeing presents.
Mary was dying to wear a costume, too, so she got to wear this hand-me-down shirt from a family reunion we had years ago. It made her SO happy.This diaper cover completed her look.
For the last hour the girls have been playing with Lydia’s new presents, and right now Abe is trying to make sure they sleep in tomorrow by playing vigorous games of chase-and-throw-the-children.
Then Clark, Swathi, and Balu called from New York and wished Lydia a happy birthday. She relived her whole day in their conversation and kept repeating that she had a fun birthday. She especially loved telling them repeatedly about how the game of chase made her laugh and giggle.
I am beyond ready for bed, so I’m blogging early and will be retiring as soon as I hit publish (hopefully). Happy birthday, my sweet and beautiful Lydia!!!
The day started by me leaving to work, and Georgia babysitting Lydia and Mary while Lily went to a yoga session. Yoga is one of the few really great ways Lily can excercise without aggravating her shin splints. After Yoga, Georgia got a ton of things done on her t0-do-while-I’m-in-town list and Lily started the festivities with Lydia. They baked her cake and made cupcakes together.
Meanwhile at work, I found out that I am interviewing for promotion on Monday. I am very excited to take the next step in my career and I hope it goes really well. I also hope that I don’t have to interview with a case of pink-eye. Lydia came down with it today and I’m hoping to last at least three days until I too have the bug!
On my drive home, I finished Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Of the four C.S. Lewis books I just read, I would say it is my least favorite, which is interesting because C.S. Lewis says it was his least favorite book to write. He said it was fun in the beginning, but after a while it was not fun at all for him to have to spend so much time thinking and writing from the point of view of a servant of satan. My reading experience echoes those sentiments. In short, it was insightful, but not uplifting.
Then I met Lily at school and picked up the kids. Lydia was in a better mood than Mary on the ride home in the beginning. Lydia was cheerful as she talked about the fact that she is going to watch Disney’s Frozen on her birthday tomorrow and as she had imaginary conversations with her cat (which was at home, not in the car). Her mood soured later in the ride, though, and she got really upset because Mary was crying, and Lydia said that Mary was being too loud and just woke up her cat. I started to explain that Mary could not have woke Lydia’s cat, because Puss (the cat) was not in the car. Lydia didn’t buy it, so I just kept driving while they both fell apart…..I think my tolerance for crying is increasing!
We then stopped at Smith’s to get Lydia’s eyedrops and animal crackers. We got the ceremonial free treat at the bakery and made our why home where we had a great pasta and brocolli dinner with Georgia. Mary was crazy about the brocolli Georgia made (it was delicious) and screamed when her plate ran out. Although I was not happy about her antics, I was happy that her antics were over wanting more brocolli.
After dinner we had family home evening where I taught a lesson about the organization of the church. We have Stake Conference Sunday and I wanted to try to explain a little bit to Lydia about why this Sunday will be different. I’m not sure that I was able to communicate anything meaningful to Lydia, but it felt good to be spending time as a family and talking about meaningful topics. After the lesson I drew a cat on the chalkboard per Lydia’s request. Before drawing the cat, I whiped the chalkboard clean and Lydia had a complete meltdown because there was a red mark on the board that simply would not come off. It completely threw her off her emotional equilibrium and it was a few minutes before we were able to calmly move forward with the cat-drawing.
Lily is at cooking school, so it’s me, Abe, again! I’m a little worried about Lily because earlier this week she developed killer shin splints while working out and her cooking school involves five hours of standing……..let’s just say I’m impressed that she is gutting it out.
I left for work around 7AM and made it in time for our weekly company TGIT (Thank Goodness It’s Thursday) breakfast and meeting. After that I commenced grinding it out on phone calls and e-mails. I did not have any great results today, however, I know that I did great work and the results from that will surely manifest in time. Not too much more to report on the work front.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Lily had a play-date with her friend Jen. After that she took flowers to Marilyn, one of the great ladies she hometeaches, because Marilyn just had surgery. After that, Lily took the girls to a lunch date with Misty at the City Creek Food Court. The only complication was that afer Misty and Lily met up, they split to buy meals at separate places and then could never find each other after that. And so, they didn’t eat or play together, but they certainly intended to!
At home Lily put Mary down for a nap, cleaned the house, taught piano to Lydia, cooked dinner, and then picked up Georgia from the airport once Mary woke up.
You heard right! Georgia was back in town today! We’ve missed her greatly and it’s so nice to see her again! Lydia was so excited to see Georgia (Nanna to her) that on the car ride to the airport she forced herself to stay awake so she could see Georgia, even though she was so tired that her eyes were rolling to the back of her head. When she finally did see Georgia, Lily reports that Lydia gave the biggest smile she has ever given to-date. Mary was very happy too and played peek-a-boo with Georgia in the car.
Lily and Georgia got to catch up a bit at the house before Lily dashed off to cooking school. When I arrived home, I ate with the girls, bathed them and put them to bed, and Georgia cleaned the kitchen and the kid’s room. After the kids were down, Georgia and I had a great time chatting for an hour and a half. She gave me updates about her life as well as how Grandma Cullen is doing (Hi Grandma) and I told Georgia all about how much I am liking my new job at Qualtrics. And now I’m blogging!
Pictures!
Lydia having a tender moment with her cat
Mary being happy!Mary laughing in the car as she played peek-a-boo with GeorgiaMary being content
I spent all morning cleaning, although my house is in shambles right now and there’s no way anyone could ever tell that. I am also exhausted because we just got back from a dinner party in Park City that was so fun we lost track of time and arrived home after 10 pm. Good thing we didn’t have to bathe the girls tonight!
Here are some pictures from the day:
Our friends from Chicago invited us over for the most delicious jambalaya dinner–and there were cupcakes afterward! We met a couple at Kristin and Adam’s November sealing that we loved, and so they came too. We loved visiting with all of them, and the girls loved running around the humongous house Kristin and Adam are house-sitting.While I was cleaning, I stepped out of the bathroom for a minute and returned to find Mary thus perched. The fact that I took a picture of her probably detracted immensely from my post-picture scolding.A happy moment from our piano lesson.Lydia’s hand.Look at that technique. She actually found it very difficult to play the first two notes of “Twinkle,” and for the last ten minutes of the lesson my heart broke for her because she had tears in her eyes–but didn’t complain or fuss or even cry at all. She just felt bad that she couldn’t play it correctly, and I felt bad that she felt bad. This is such a tricky, complicated time for us. On the one hand, our relationship has really deepened with these piano lessons and one-on-one time, and on the other, I am terrified I am being too hard on Lydia. I wish I always knew the best way to give my daughter the best of everything.
Then we had dinner and FHE, wherein we talked about gratitude and wrote a thank-you note for the Valentine chocolates our neighbor gave us all the way back in February…
And then it was peek-a-boo before bed:
