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:
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:
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!
I feel like I’m going to jinx myself by saying this, but today was another in what feels like a string of good days. Lydia and I started off by painting our nails (with me doing all of the painting).
Then I fed the girls and practiced piano. The girls played together.
After that fun, I dropped them off at Sarah’s house for a play date. Sarah volunteered to watch the girls while I slipped out to go to the temple. She lives about a block away, and it felt so great to get to the temple! I had a very meaningful visit, and I can’t thank Sarah enough. Mary didn’t even cry. I think I found myself the perfect swap buddy today!
Then I came home and rested for a bit while the girls had quiet time/nap time. After a while, I realized I had a ton of leftover tamales and other food from class last night, so I called Misty and invited her family over for dinner. It was the perfect ending to a busy week–and a perfect beginning to the weekend.
This morning Lydia and I made buckwheat muffins again. It’s a good thing, too, since I found out today the competition on Saturday is a cupcake competition, and one of the ingredients is garlic. I am thinking of revamping the buckwheat muffin and calling it a cupcake. Maybe I’ll pipe some onion/garlic jam in the middle and top it with some sort of honey frosting and toasted almonds. We’ll see.
After we made cupcakes, we headed out to meet Misty, Sophia and Max at the park for a play date/ picnic. While we were there, we also ran into Jen, Eldon, Natalie, Laddie and Spencer–a two for one play date!
Then we went home for naps and such. After I fed the girls again, we headed to the car to go to school. Tonight I made spinach and cheese tamales. I was so excited because I got to partner up with the best student in class. I have observed her in awe all semester–she cooks so fast, so clean, and her food always tastes amazing. Sadly, she got sick half way through and had to go home. I was terrified to plate our food all by myself, but it turned out okay. I forgot to take a picture because I was so frazzled. Her ceviche and shredded meat dish turned out amazingly good.
But by far, the best news of the day is about Abe. Abe met his quota at work today, and the quarter is only half done! I was so proud of him and really grateful to God for the blessing. I have been praying a lot and feeling really close to God lately, and this felt like some direct divine communication. Yay, Abe!
Also, Mary is finally talking more. She is learning to say “please” instead of screaming in her high chair. Glory be, allelujah. I am always so charmed by her cuteness that it’s hard to get mad at her, but I won’t miss her screaming in her high chair one bit.
We did take pictures today, but the camera card was accidentally in the computer. Oops! Better tomorrow.
This morning we had a play date with Jen, Natlalie, Laddie and Spencer. The best part was after we all went to institute, and Lydia and Natalie had so much fun running around the church. They were so cute! I wish I’d had my camera on me, but seeing that the card wasn’t in the camera anyway, it wouldn’t have done much good.
After we all ate and napped, Abe came home and we went on a bike ride up the canyon. It was a gorgeous evening and the recent rain has turned everything green. Everything smelled and looked so fresh. It was a wonderful end to the day. Too bad my Fitbit can’t tell when I bike! Next time I’m going to stick it in my sock and see if it can tell I’m moving.
We made pizza when we came home, Abe bathed the girls, I did homework, and now we’re all ready for bed. Abe has had so little sleep because of his long commute. I feel sorry for him. Right now he’s dying of tiredness, so I better stop blogging so we can turn out the light and he can go to sleep.
Today was a good day for everyone at the Darais house. We haven’t been sleeping much, but in spite of that, God has given us strength to not only manage, but find great joy.
Lily got a TON of house work done, including accomplishing hours worth of laundrey washing, drying, folding, sorting and putting-away. For a brief moment in the Darais home there was literally NOTHING that needed to be washed…….I know I wont sleep in the socks I’m currently wearing, so unfortunately the pile starts again tonight……
Lily read to the girls separately, read in her book about the Monart method of teaching your children to draw and she read in a book about how to teach your children to read. She said she felt very happy and close to God today. What a wonderful and productive day!
I had a good day at work. I was a little tired, but I kept my nose to the grind-stone. Days usually come for two packages for me, successful days and learning days. Today was more of a learning day, but I did learn and I believe success will come. At home I had the most wonderful time with the girls. They were both in super good moods and we all danced to K-Love together. We went totally wild when our favorite song “Every Act of Love” by Jason Grey came on. I was dancing while holding Mary and she screamed to indicate that she wanted to be set down…..when I set her down she proceeded to get her groove on and I thought it was hilarious! Days like this I am reminded why I’m so grateful to not have a job that takes my attention at home as well as at work. I was completely engaged with the children and drinking from the cup of pure joy.
Pictures!
This was, hands down, the BEST Mother’s Day I have ever had. Abe did an amazing job making me feel loved and appreciated, and every part of the day felt special and meaningful. He made strawberry pancakes for breakfast, and both the girls and I appreciated the results of his morning effort. Abe hasn’t had a lot of chance to cook in his life, but one thing he does really, really well (waaaaay better than I ever could) is make pancakes and waffles.
He also gave me my favorite cookbook of the moment, Love Soup. I am so excited to have it. I have had it checked out from the library for weeks and have been debating returning it…now I finally can!
Church was wonderful, and Mary made it through nursery all by herself. That left Abe to teach his lesson and me to pay attention to mine. We had some inspiring classes, and the questions that provoked the most reflection in me was: What does it mean to love God with all your heart, might, mind and strength? Are those different types of love? What is a manifestation of loving God with your heart vs. loving God with your strength?
After church, we invited our friends, the Andersons, over to join us for lunch. Abe made veggie sandwiches and I tried out this recipe for strawberry rhubarb bars. I was busy talking and accidentally added the cornstarch to the crumble–oops!–but they came out okay in spite of that.
Ada and Lydia played so nicely together the whole time, and Abe and I basically just love talking to Paige and Mike. They are so interesting and fun.
After they left, we called my mom and grandma, Skyped with Grandma Forsyth, Skyped with Clark and Swathi, and went to the Miner’s for dinner. It felt so meaningful to catch up with our moms, grandmothers, and siblings–perhaps that’s one of the things that made this day feel so special. I just loved connecting with people I love and the mothers who have made so many sacrifices for us. Grandma Forsyth asked me to play a piece for her, and after I played, she told me that the Chopin Scherzo #2 made her imagine a little child stealing cookies from the cookie jar and being continually caught by his mother. It was an incredibly apt image, and I think I will never hear/play that piece the same way.
For the sad news: No pictures today. We were so caught up in each activity and in such a rush to get to the next activity all day long that we never had a chance to take a picture. So sorry! Tomorrow that will change.
To my mom and grandma: I know I say this a lot, but I love you so much. My life is this good only because of your beautiful lives and examples. I draw strength and inspiration from you every day. Happy Mother’s Day!
We are still last minute packing for our trip tomorrow. We are going to get up at 5:30 am tomorrow, so I am hurrying.
This morning I was supposed to clean the house in preparation for the trip to California tomorrow, but I noticed all the library books I need to return that I haven’t read to the girls. An hour of frantic reading ensued, thus bumping my cleaning plans until…well, actually, they never materialized. The house is still a mess.
But we had a great middle of the day. Jan, George, Chelsea, Olivia, Carter and Camden came over for lunch, and after we all went to the zoo. Jan’s phone took better pictures than mine, so I’m stealing her pics and inserting them here:
Lydia had another tea party with Olivia that involved probably a gallon of water. I was impressed at how carefully they must have carried their little bowls and cups of water to the bedroom because when I discovered them, the vessels were all filled to the brim. George held Lydia’s hand and showed her all the animals at the zoo–and she fell in love! She kept asking me where George was and would go stick up her hand to hold his. It was sweet.
Mary climbed over a railing in front of the snake display and fell on top of her head smack dab on the concrete floor. I may or may not have sworn so loudly that heads turned. We decided shortly thereafter it was probably time to head home.
Seeing Chelsea always makes me wonder why we are not moving to Orem. It is so nice to see someone you’ve known for a long time. I always feel like these visits are more like family reunions than friend meet-ups.
Then I came home and tried to pack, but mostly I lay on various pieces of furniture stressed out about how much I had to do. I heard Charity Lang, the fictional character in Crossing to Safety say to me, “Do something! Don’t just sit around and gawp.” Sorry, Charity. I gawped today. And when Abe came home, I straight out napped. Now we’re paying for it, and as soon as I hit publish it will be back to the packing grindstone.
Oh, and I probably won’t blog while we’re in California. I might if Auntie Geri’s computer is free, but if not, I’ll blog again on Monday.
Long day! I got up at 5:15 to get to yoga, and then after yoga I started to drive to school for my competition team meet when I realized that there was no way I could get everything done today if I went to the meeting. So I turned around and headed home.
We ended up shopping for wedding clothes (Jon and Shirley are getting married next week!) and getting ready for the trip. Then we went to Ikea for dinner, and afterward drove to Provo to meet up with our friends Ben, Candace, Cadence–and their new twins, Aria and Bentley. Aria and Bentley were unbelievably adorable. Equally unbelievable was that we didn’t get pictures of them. Oh well. I accidentally overfed Bentley because I was so absorbed in my conversation with Candace, and the poor thing couldn’t take all the milk I was drowning him in. It ended up on my arm, so at least I have a souvenir.
We met up at Chuckee Cheese’s, a place none of us have visited for over twenty years. It was a lot smaller than we remembered! But the kids loved it, and it was a lot easier to talk and visit with all of that entertainment for the kids. The visit seemed short, but before we realized it, two hours had flown by. We reluctantly said goodbye, and then headed for home.
Except. Except Abe has been raving about the massage chairs at Qualtrics, and he really wanted me to try them. We were only five minutes away, so we headed over to try the chairs. When we got there, the chairs were taken! The whole building was empty, but there were two employees there getting massages in the chairs. Abe was bummed, but he was determined not to make the trip in vain. Since his card wouldn’t give him access to the third floor (where there are more massage chairs), he tried to circumvent the system by taking the elevator. No such luck. Instead, we spent ten minutes stuck in the elevator fearing we would never get out. Finally, we figured out we could exit into the garage, which opened back up onto the street. Phew! After that close call, we headed straight for home.
Now I will post the very poor pictures we took of 1) the girls at Kid to Kid, 2) Dinner at Ikea and 3) the girls at Chuckee Cheese.
The day started well enough, but it deteriorated to the point where I can just not wait for it to be over already.
This morning Rose came over and treated my hair for hours. It was wonderful talking with her, and the girls and Sev had a play date. My hair looks great, but I can’t put it up for three days, and tomorrow I was thinking of doing yoga and going to the competition team meeting. I guess if I do, I’ll have to figure out a way to keep my hair out of my face that doesn’t involve elastic.
After Rose finished, I fed the girls and put Mary down for a nap. That’s when the day started to deteriorate. I felt tired and wanted to nap, but Lydia kept interrupting every ten minutes until I was almost out of my mind. I tried reading my new book, but by that kept getting interrupted too. I stayed in bed for a long time hoping that eventually I’d feel energetic and rested, but I finally got up more stressed out than when I lay down.
Then I totally lost it when Lydia wouldn’t clean her room, and I practically lost my voice screaming. I felt so out of control that I finally just took my own time out and asked the girls to pray with me that God would help me control my temper and also help the girls to listen better. After that, I took some deep breaths and decided to take the girls outside in the rain to plant some seeds. Abe got home around then.
I took those pictures for you, Grandma! I love you and think of you every day. Lydia thinks about you too and always says she hopes you’re feeling okay. Mom, she keeps saying how much she misses you. We love you both!