Mary had her third violin lesson. Unlike the piano, there is a lot of form and technique to learn to make the sound beautiful. I keep dreaming of her playing If I Could Hie to Kolob one day...it's one of my favorite pieces on the violin.
Debbie Idiart sent us Simone's old bike, and lucky for us, it's the perfect size for Nikki. She's lovin' it (in spite of her older siblings and cousins who tease Dora's football head).
We continued Ashton's birthday celebration and no school today with cousin sleepovers...
this is how the boys roll...
The kids sang the most lovely song in sacrament today. I have really enjoyed hearing it's beautiful melody and touching lyrics in our home.
Following sacrament Cameron went to most of his class. About ten minutes into the Relief Society lesson Cameron, who left his class to "go potty", poked his head into the door. His new teachers, Brother Adonis and Sister Lainey, were so prepared and sweet with the children. I got to watch them play several rounds of the stick pull.
Then we got together for Ashton's family birthday dinner. Since there is no school tomorrow we divided up the crew into sleepover groups...girls at our place and boys at Tiff's. They just never get tired of them.
Noah attended Ashton's birthday party this evening. I was so grateful he invited him even though he is so much younger than Ash and his buddies. This almost-twelve-year-old boy didn't just let Noah come, he made Noah feel like the guest of honor. Ashton's maturity and developed Christ-like attributes make him one unique pre-teen and a JOY to celebrate.
I think it's true that women need time with other women. Time to listen and time to share, time to connect and empathize. Today we celebrated two sweet friends' birthdays. Aaron came home and played a lot of checkers so I could still meet up with the amigas at Mazatlazn Grill. Noah wasn't the least bit sick this morning, but I didn't want to chance it at school or with a babysitter. I felt energized and uplifted after the lunch. Today was muy bueno!
It's technically still Thursday. I hadn't thought of a good post until I watched my sick Noah sleeping next to me. Poor boy. He seemed perfectly fine all day, then just after we put him to bed we heard the coughing sounds that signal one thing. We rushed up the steps, but not in time. So, it was laundry and cleaning, bed rearranging. I let go of my 10 pm bedtime and Aaron and I cleaned and comforted our sweet boy. It's quiet now, and I can't stop staring at him. Just when I think my heart is completely full to bursting, these tender moments swell and expand it to let in more love.
On Wednesdays I put on my taxi cab driver hat. The older our kids get the more frequently I wear this hat. Lucky for me today's technology keeps the younger kids entertained so I can enjoy my blessed seat heater in peace. I've also been enjoying the new primary music CD Sarah made. There are quite a few songs we find ourselves belting out to.
(By the way, I did let Nicole take off her seat belt while we waited for the bus. It takes a lot of reminding to put it on, but she does wear it when I drive).
Noah's team met for a small awards ceremony at Bobbio's pizza. I'm so glad our kids have Aaron for their dad. He's coached quite a few teams so far. I wish I had an award for him and all the time and energy he puts in to our family, but for him these happy faces is enough.
For Christmas Noah said he wanted a dog, for his birthday he said he wanted a dog, and for Martin Luther King Jr. Day today he said he dreams that all the dogs will have a home. I think I get the hint, but I have no plans of giving in. Aaron showed me the cutest golden retriever puppies the other day that our friend was selling. That was tempting since that's my favorite dog , and puppies are just seriously adorable. I have been letting Damian's dog come in and lick the crumbs off our floor after dinner each night. See, I'm not completely heartless.
Church was amazing for me today. The kids were angelic during sacrament. I was so touched by the Relief Society lesson (Yes I got to go to all my classes today since Cameron joined Grandma's class). Then after church we watched the movie Rigoletto (which I love). I think the kids understood it. There were a lot of questions while we watched. Then I got this darling photo from a parent of two seminary students. She send it and told me that her kids were studying for their assessment this week. It made my heart beam. What a thoughtful thing for her to share with us. And then we ate a delicious dinner at the Bennetts. There was a lot of good today. It was chalk full of good actually.
The only bad (and little bit of ugly) was that Cameron banged his head into the Bennett's kitchen table while he was twirling around. He's got a pretty big bruise and goose egg. Aaron kept running upstairs to check on him the rest of the evening to make sure he was still alive. I guess there's some more good to celebrate there too.
Today we played. We did some chores around the house for a bit before Mary's friends came over. They made clay figures and played chopped, which was very entertaining. I kept cleaning up after them. Then following Noah's double header/final basketball games we took the cousins to see Paddington Bear and then back to our house to hang out. The girls played M.A.S.H. and school for hours. It's amazing that these game still live on from generation to generation.
Today we met with Mary's Battle of the Books team at lunch. Nikki and Cameron helped me carry in some slurpees for them. We reviewed the book titles and authors, chose a spokesperson, recorded the books they have read, and made assignments for our weekly meeting. It's a sweet and bright group of kids, and I love the team name they came up with.
Mary got the part! She'll be playing Violet Beauregarde in our school's production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She came home from practice and already has her largest lines memorized. What exciting news!
It was a rough morning at seminary. I felt like the worst seminary teacher the world has ever known. Inadequate. Discouraged. Overwhelmed. I kept wondering how I could improve, how I could get my class to care more and leave each day feeling inspired to learn and live the gospel.
This is kind of how I felt:
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| This is a photo of Cameron that went through an aging app. So funny!? |
I've lived in Oregon for over eight years, owned homes, birthed three babies, have an Oregon license and plates yet I still don't feel loyal to my organic lovin' liberal state. I really couldn't care less if Oregon sports teams won or lost. But what I did enjoy was all the family and friends gathering together to watch the football championship this evening. Oregon got creamed. And I wasn't all that heart-broken.
Cameron will go to his Sunday school class on his own. Someday he won't even need me near him. But for now, I will enjoy every second of watching him play Don't Eat Pete in CTR4. Love this boy of mine.
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Tonight we went to an ice hockey game with some friends. It was so fun doing something different on our date night. I had never been to a hockey game before. Boy, was it a blast! Callie reserved some amazing seats right behind the glass so our view was of hockey players' faces getting smashed into the wall. It's shocking that it was so entertaining to see their aggressive behavior.
Annie came over today for a sleepover. These kids were so happy. We went out to the peanut place for dinner (Texas Roadhouse). Cameron sat by me so he could get some help pounding on the peanut shells. They were a fun and goofy bunch.
I can see them. These darling front teeth are heading out. I just love my sweet cuddly boy.
It's hard watching him grow and change so fast. Sometimes I wish I could freeze time.
But, just like these new adult teeth, there's no way of going back.
Matthew had surgery yesterday, this time to remove the plates that were put in at the time of the hip surgeries. We've been praying hard for this brave little boy who has faced so much in his young life. Nicole drew this picture of the two of them sledding together. I sure wish we lived closer.
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I think parents are always worrying and wondering if they are overscheduling their kids. Mary tried out for the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory play today after school. She did such a great job reading for Violet that I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up with a speaking part. I've been working on getting the violin situation squared away, deciding we needed to purchase a better violin so she won't struggle so much learning to play it. Her weekly violin lessons along with piano lessons will keep her plenty busy. She will be starting basketball soon and with her normal school work I am hoping I haven't let her pile on too much.
We signed up for battle of the books earlier this year, and I am going to be a coach for four third graders. We're a little behind on her reading so we've come up with a reading plan to get caught up. We're spending a lot of our afternoons reading. I don't mind that very much, but it means I'm not super balanced in the attention I'm giving the other kids and housework.
I watched the Linthorst's baby today and he was just so easy and fun. Of course, these sweet babies make you wonder if you should have more, babies are so simple and naturally slow down life a bit. But then you have a crazy busy afternoon and realize, that handing me a baby while I am already drowning may not be the best idea.
I'm hoping the dust will settle and I'll get it all figured out.
Today I packed away nearly all of the Christmas stuff. It was a big project and it feels good to be almost done. After trying to attend to all of the items on my back-to-reality-to-do list I realized that I didn't take any pictures worth while from the day. I did have a decent one of Nicole eating her Family Home Evening Treat. That's when it dawned on me. One of my resolutions is to take better photos, and I think that will require that I stop using my phone for all my photos and start using our camera. It's a good goal. I think I'll try and use my camera at least once a week (that seems a little more realistic). The rest may be the blurry orangeish photos I've grown accustomed to.
So, let's call this photo a before shot...
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It's our new time for church this year...the lovely 9am. We prepared the night before with showers and church clothes. Mary got bumped up to senior primary, which she loved, and I got to sub for Cameron's class, since his new teacher just got called today. Estelle made a hilarious debut in primary. It was too adorable to recount.
I loved coming home at noon. There was so much of the day left. Even though we had some time before dinner it was pretty easy to fast, perhaps because we had a great purpose...Matthew and his surgery this week.
My mom made a delicious dinner for the entire family. We got to celebrate Eliza's birthday, which was on Friday and the cousins had so much fun being reunited after two weeks of separation.
I think this will be a pretty awesome year. I can just feel it.
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We arrived early enough to unload and freshen up before Noah's basketball game. I realized as I watched him play that he really wasn't well enough to be there. He didn't have a fever, but he was kind of observing the game, instead of participating in it. Then we did a little unpacking before I headed to the grocery store to stock up our empty pantry. After I made dinner we pulled out the new apple peeler we got from Grammie and Grandpa and enjoyed some sliced, peeled apples. Boy, do I love this contraption!
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We spent the morning packing and nursing Noah and Nicole's fevers with a nice medicine regiment, since they woke up sick too. We left just after lunch to stop by the airport and say hello to Murphy who returned home today from his mission. I just love that boy so much! It's pretty obvious the kids weren't feeling well, so we tried to be quick and spread the germs as little as possible. We said our good-byes to all the Nadaulds. It was definitely sad leaving them.
Then we started out on our journey home arriving in Susanville at about 10pm, Oregon time. We were going to stay at a hotel in Reno, but while trying to find a good spot just passed the city we ended up without any real options for lodging. So we continued driving a little over an hour to Susanville, rented a not-so-nice hotel, and left around 5am because it was hard to sleep there. There's something to say for spending a little bit more and getting something just a little bit nicer.
The kids were real troopers, despite all the aches and coughs.
Home never looked so good.
That's a sentiment I'm sure Murphy felt today too.
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Aaron's been battling some chills, aches, and a fever for a few days now. Today Mary and Cameron succumbed to the illness and we had to cancel our New Year's Day plans to visit the Natural Museum of Curiosity and the Arhets family. Bummer. And I'm sure it will make it's way around to the rest of us. Until then, plenty of rest is in order.
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