Today was a very long day at work for me, but it was heart-warming to come home and be a part of the kids making their valentines boxes and valentines for school tomorrow with Lily. I think the prize for most creative must go to Lydia for her chicken valentines box 🙂
Today I worked out again, walked Basil, listened to church and then helped around the house, including setting the mattress for our newly built trundle bed. We are are thrilled with the result, including Clarissa! She thought the mattress looked like an ocean so she used two of her toys (one was a dolphin) to play an imaginary game in the “ocean.” It was really sweet.
Also, below is a project Clarissa did in class showing her veins and heart etc. So cute!
Lily also did a ton of work around the house today (cleaning and tons and tons of laundry folding) and she is still loving her audiobook My Brilliant Friend.
In the afternoon, Lily and I went to Target in preparation for our guests coming. Target trips are always more eventful when the littles come, lol…
We played more games in the evening, and had an overall great day inspire of some of the wear and tear the grown-ups were feeling.
Lily and I were both totally worn out from our long weeks. To recover, I slept in (deliciously). Lily turned to cleaning out her pores as a methodical therapeutic activity. She actually had a dream about cleaning her nose pores, and was thrilled to bring the dream to fruition. At first her nose looked very sore, but it soon faded.
Lily has really been in cleaning mode in preparation for our guests. She organized the pantry and fridge and has been working on the house. I’ve been helping too. After a workout, I built our trundle bed and helped with other things around the house (and planned and booked our California vacation).
Lily has also been listening to the My Brilliant Friend series by Elena Ferrante. It is one her most favorite books and authors she has ever read. She loves the masterful artistry in the book and the piercingly honest social observations brought to bare, and it has rekindled Lily’s desire to also write. I’m so happy for the joy, meaning and inspiration Lily is drawing from that book.
On the topic of beautiful artistry……
In the evening, Lily and I played games with the kids, one of our favorite things to do lately. We taught Clarissa to play 7 Wonders!
This was a long week for both me and Lily. I traveled to Philadelphia and as usual had a crazy schedule trying to balance travel logistics, inflowing work demands, sub-optimal sleep and being on for client meetings (though I did get to have breakfast with my friend Andrew). Lily also had a tough week with all she had going on, including hurting legs (she could barely walk after we played pickleball two days in a row). She also hosted Chris and his kids a couple more days after I left (which was a delight), and also took her mom, Georgia to a doctor’s appointment Wednesday, and then Thursday because Georgia still has not been feeling (we are so sorry Georgia!). Below is a cute video of Clarissa working on her valentines craft in the doctor’s office yesterday.
On the way home yesterday, I gave up my seat on an overweight flight for $1,650 in flight vouchers (yay!), but that also meant I took a late flight home and didn’t get to sleep until 2AM and I had a heavy work day starting at 8AM. The next day. I was completely fried by the end of my work-day, and Lily was burnt out too, but we were so delighted to hear my dad and Suzanne were in town. We had some of Lily’s amazing turkey bolognese left over which we served, and we had such a great time talking and playing 7 Wonders with them. What a great and happy thing it was to see them at the end of a long week!
We are so excited to have Chris and his kids stay with us for a few days. Today was Lydia and Mary’s last day at ski school and when I let Chris know I would be with them late afternoon-evening skiing with them and that I’d love for him and the kids to join, he took me up on the offer. None of them had skied or snowboarded before, and I was so excited to help them get a taste.
In the end I thought Chris would like skiing more than snowboarding and I offered to swap equipment with him. He picked up skiing remarkably fast, and I was over the moon learning how to snowboard for the first time. Caelen did amazing snowboarding (used the lift multiple times with Lydia and Mary and made it down) and Gigi was a star on the bunny hill and got really comfortable going down over and over again. There were a couple of stressful moments, but all in all, everyone had an amazing time. The snow was perfect (some of the best I’ve ever skied in) and I was so happy to share their first winter-sport experience with them!
We came home to Lily’s delicious Spaghetti with turkey Bolognese sauce. She had already gone to bed because she has been in a ton of calf and achilles pain. She was in so much pain, she just wanted to sleep to stop feeling it. I really hope things get better for her as I’m leaving on a trip early tomorrow.
We had a great Sunday full of Lily working with the kids, me getting tasks done and playing with Ammon and the kids playing wonderfully together. Then to top things off with even more fun, Chris and his kids arrived around 6:30. All the kids immediately started playing so well together and then we had a salmon, rice and salad dinner. After putting the kids down, our dream came true by learning Seven Wonders with Chris. He had played before and he helped us to learn. We knew it would be an amazing game once we learned it, and we had sooooo much fun playing with Chris.
Sundance has been getting a lot of snow this year, and I had an incredible time cross-country skiing with Daniel.
Later in the day, Lily and went to dinner with Daniel, Amanda and their two daughters (for Amanda’s birthday) at Jurassic Tacos and then we played games at their house afterwards. We loved our time with the Olsens today!
Today Clarissa was a very cute alligator in a school performance. I was very said to miss it for work meetings, but so glad Lily captured it on video. Clarissa did a great job in the play, and she is also getting so tall!
I am loving my new work schedule where I’m in the office every other day and at home every other day. I feel like it is the best of both worlds, and today I got to chat with Lily during my lunch as I ate her delicious Borscht.
Lydia (and I think Mary?) had sports camps in today (I think in Salt Lake?). I think Amy and some of her kids were also there. I don’t know details…
I am slowly cooking my way through the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook and made the jacket potatoes and cauliflower dish yesterday. I also worked with Lydia on her Greek and Latin and did Ammon’s reading with him. I neglected Clarissa’s reading and have been letting Mary take a piano break since she is sick.
In the evening Abe and I played Pickleball and Azul together, which was so fun! Abe beats me every time in Pickleball but I love every minute and want to play it all day every day.
Abe is working incredibly hard at Qualtrics and worked late. We unwound at the end of the day by watching some White Lotus, which is such a fun show.