2018

This GIF from the summer perfectly sums up what our year has been like: five children, lots of action, slightly out of focus, probably too many pajama days, and really big personalities.

Happy New Year!

The Lock

I found this on the floor near our art supplies. Guess who it belongs to? I'll give you a hint: there's only one blonde that lives in our house.

Ride On

We played Ticket to Ride for the first time tonight. It was fun and difficult for the kids and ended in some tears (which reminded us why we don't play board games as often as we'd like), but I think we enjoyed it while we were playing it.

Topher slept for part of the game, then he sat awake on my knee for the rest. In theory Sophie and I were on the same team. But when she got tired of the game, she entertained both Topher and herself by taking pictures. It was a good way to spend an evening.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We had a wonderful Christmas day that included unwrapping gifts, building Lego sets, talking with family, delicious food, and staying in our pajamas all day. Topher was a good sport while we opened presents and he spent the rest of the day trying his hardest to get into all the new stuff that was left on the floor.

The other kids waited patiently at the top of the stairs while Bryan and I (with our assistant Topher) made sure we were ready to open presents.

When they heard the Christmas music the other kids came running down to check their stockings.

Topher thought it was all quite exciting.

Topher opened (and tasted) the first gift of the morning.

After we finished unwrapping, the kids spent several hours building their new Lego sets.

Then we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner. I think this was the best roast Bryan has ever cooked. I made dressing from scratch for the first time and the kids actually ate it, so I'll be doing it that way from now on.

It was a peaceful day, for which I was very thankful.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

The Artists Revealed

Thank you to everyone who voted! The kids all enjoyed hearing your guesses. Many of you got one of them correct, and some of you got two right, but no one guessed all of them. Are you ready for the reveal?

One: Sophie

Two: Phoebe

 Three: Peter

Four: Cooper

Thanks for playing!

Home Decor

Tonight the kids decorated gingerbread houses. They loved it and they each had their own approach. I told them I would post the pictures here, but let you all vote on who decorated each one. I'll number them, then give the answers on Monday. 

Would you take a minute to vote in the comments? 

The kids are excited to see if anyone can figure out which artist created each masterpiece.

One:

Two:

Three:

Four:

A Difference of Opinion

While Sophie was at preschool on Tuesday, Bryan and I did some final Christmas shopping. As we perused the book section I found Remarkable Books, which is all about beautiful books. In other words, it's a book about books. I showed it to Bryan, then this exchange happened immediately.

Bryan: A book about books? (pause) That's kind of lame.

Me: (gazing adoringly at the pictures) It's so pretty!

Just Dance

We loved watching Phoebe's and Sophie's dance classes over the last two weeks. Phoebe takes beginning ballet. She was very graceful and now I have some ideas of what she can work on at home to keep improving.

Sophie does ballet, tap, and acro in her class. They started with ballet. You guys, Sophie was kind of amazing. She could feel the rhythm and had a natural sense of the music. And she threw her entire self into each dance. She was so fun to watch.

Then they changed into tap shoes. Oh dear. Her skills did not transfer from ballet to tap. Her main goal appeared to be producing the loudest sounds possible. No fear though, I think I'll be pulling my tap shoes out from their box in the basement so we can have some private tutoring at home.

The Audience

I spent most of yesterday curled up in bed. Thanks to Bryan working from home, I got to really rest. When I woke up this morning I still felt sick, but so much better than I had. Tuesdays are our busiest days, so I jumped in and did what I needed to do. That means I'm now regretting being so productive and thinking about sleeping more tomorrow to re-recover.

One of the many things we did today was to visit Sophie's dance class. Last Tuesday we sat in on Phoebe's, part of the annual Parent Visitation. I'll share pictures of that tomorrow. For today, I will share this picture of those of us in the audience. Topher loved the music and dancing.

Joining the Gang

Cooper and Sophie are feeling much better. Peter, Topher, and Phoebe are healing, though not one hundred percent well yet. Bryan is still pretty miserable.

And me? I made it all the way through church and choir yesterday before I started to really feel lousy. I'm not yet as sick as the rest of the family got. Maybe I'll have a light case, maybe I'll have the energy I need this week to prepare for two birthdays and Christmas, maybe I'll use my will power to keep moving forward to get stuff done.

Or maybe I'll go crawl under my covers while Sophie watches too much and TV and Topher plays in his bed.

Sick Day Reading

Dropping Like Flies

On Sunday night Cooper started to feel lousy. By Monday morning he was curled up in a little ball on the couch with a terrible headache. That afternoon Sophie laid herself down on the living room floor and fell asleep. She woke up the Tuesday morning with a fever. By Tuesday night Cooper, Sophie, Topher, and Bryan were all running high fevers and dealing with body aches, chills, and some vomiting.

On Wednesday I took the three sick kids to the doctor and was told that they have the flu. The doctor also told us that if anyone else at our house exhibits these symptoms that they probably have the flu as well. On Wednesday Peter developed a high fever and chills.

Cooper has not been to school at all this week. Peter went the first few days, then stayed home. Phoebe had missed last Friday and Monday because of a cough, then went back on Tuesday. Her cough worsened on Wednesday, so she stayed home again. I thought maybe she'd had a light case of the flu before we realized what was happening and that the cough was what remained.

I was wrong. Tonight at bedtime Phoebe was hit with a high fever. That means I am the only healthy person at my house. Peter and Bryan have helped where possible, but I've done a lot of care taking  over the last few days, especially for Topher.

I have no idea if I'm going to get sick or somehow avoid what appears to be a terribly painful flu. Just in case, I traded Sunday School teaching responsibilities with my co-teacher so I don't need to teach this Sunday and I've got someone to cover choir practice. I'm praying that I stay healthy until Bryan is healthy again, because at least one parent should be able to care for these kids.

Teacher Training

Phoebe: Mom, can I do a reading lesson with Sophie?

Me: Sure.

Within Reach

Someone has discovered the Christmas tree. That same someone has also discovered that he can get to the Christmas tree by rolling and twisting. I usually start putting gifts under the tree in the weeks leading up to Christmas. This year we may need to wait until the big day arrives lest the small man try to eat the presents.

Sunday Snuggles

The Bee

A few weeks ago Cooper asked me if we could attend the spelling bee for his school. I asked when it was and he said he didn't know. Then I asked if he knew someone who was going to be in it. He answered, "Yeah. Me." Cooper had won his class spelling bee that day and had qualified for the school-wide competition. The winning word? Cooperage. Seriously.

On Tuesday night our family went to the spelling bee to support Cooper. I'm not the awesome speller that Cooper is, so this was my first time at a spelling bee. They are stressful! Also, they're quiet. That's why Topher and I spent a chunk of time in the hallway outside the auditorium, watching through the window and going back in each time to hear Cooper spell.

This was before the event began.

The adults in charge wisely took the group photo at the beginning before any words were misspelled or tears shed. Forty-two kids competed. The Principal made a big deal about how they had all done well to make it to the spelling bee at all and to count that as a victory.

The first round was to practice, so misspellings weren't counted against you. Cooper's word was din. His next three words were pillows, abnormal, and pronounce.

Cooper made it to the fourth round (fifth if you count the practice round). The picture below shows that forty-two kids had been whittled down to seventeen by this time.

On the fourth round four kids in a row got knocked out and Cooper was the fourth. The word that ended his run was supposedly. He forgot the second p. He knew as soon as the bell rang where his error was.

Most kids left when they were eliminated, but Cooper wanted to stay. Bryan and I thought that was a good idea. We stayed for the final two rounds and the championship word.

There were tears from some of the other kids, but not from Cooper. He was an excellent sport. He said he was sad when he misspelled his word, especially because he had been able to spell the words in his head that the kids before him had missed, but he said he felt okay again pretty quickly.

I love that Cooper was in the spelling bee. He's always been a wonderful speller and I think it's great that he was able to use that skill. I was also impressed that he wasn't nervous about being onstage or competing.

Well done, Cooper!

Clever Creature

Sophie's Primary teacher is also our Cub Master. (And the Young Woman's secretary, because everyone in our ward has multiple callings.) She's amazing and plans fantastic pack meetings. At our November gathering we had a faux Thanksgiving dinner which included baby carrots to munch on. Sophie took a handful because she loves them. That prompted me to tell her teacher why Sophie took so many. The following morning Sophie and I had this exchange.

Me: Sophie, I told your teacher that you love carrots and she said she'll try to bring some to Primary for a snack.

Sophie: (pausing to think for a moment) Did you tell her how much I love fruit snacks?

The Forgery

I found this slip of paper when I was cleaning the house. In case you can't tell, it says "The boys can blay (play) video games, when they are done. Mom"

That is not my handwriting.

For the record, I do remember the boys asking me to "notarize" something so they could play video games. I think this was probably it.

How Fortunate

On Saturday I made Pioneer Woman's Cashew Chicken for dinner, the first time I've prepared that particular dish. I'm happy to report it was a smashing success and prompted Peter to announce, "Mom, this is the most delicious thing you've ever made."

Since I planned our menu for the week and knew what I would be preparing, I bought a box of fortune cookies to go with the Cashew Chicken. We all enjoyed reading our fortunes and trying to make sense of them, but the best part of the meal was when Cooper announced, "These aren't fortunes, they're dad jokes!"

Sunday Best