Cleaning and Memories 11/1 - 11/7/2020

 This week was a bit slower which was nice.  The kids had Tuesday off of school.  I think they just chose election day to have a fall day off.  But it was nice to have a break in the middle of the week.  We cleaned out rooms and picked things to sell and give away.  I finished going through my keepsakes and have fun looking through memories of high school and early marriage years.  

We went to the park in the afternoon and enjoyed the wonderful weather!! I wish it would stay forever. 

Damon and Tyler have been super snuggly with the girls lately, almost too much sometimes though. They are cute with their sisters. 

I hosted Book Club on Wednesday.  We talked about the book Wool.  Everyone enjoyed the book and we had a nice discussion.  Not many people came at first, but then 2 others joined later so then it felt more like a group.  I made a fun 'silo' themed treat that turned out yummy.  I also printed out our family pictures to have the wall up to date. 

Doug took Tyler and Chris camping with the Deacon's Quruom over the weekend.  It was perfect camping weather.  They had a good time, but Doug was reminded how much work camping is with the ward, and is grateful that he doesn't have to do it every month anymore.  

The girls and I watched Mulan Friday night since Damon was with friends.  

Saturday was busy cleaning and organizing.  Doug and I were invited to go out to dinner with the Abernethys.  We went to Crust pizza and had a great time visiting with them.  

My mom found out this week that her mission has been postponed.  She needs to make a decision about delaying or staying home and serving remotely.  She is getting closer to closing on her house - still waiting on a few things, but she is making great progress on cleaning out the house.  

Doug' dad isn't doing well and actually went into the hospital Saturday night.  It is so hard to not be able to help or give him any relief from his pain. 

Halloween 10/25 - 10/31/2020

It was Red Ribbon Week and the girls had fun dressing up.  They did good themes this year that were much more realistic: wear red, wear pajamas, and school pride.  This is their super hero day: 

 Fall traditions: pumpkin carving and cookie decorating.  We carved pumpkins on Thursday and decorated cookies on Friday.  I let the girls invite the neighbor twins over and Damon had his friends over in the evening and they 'decorated' cookies too - they basically threw on some frosting and candy corn. Sigh oh well, at least they liked eating them.  

Damon didn't want to carve a pumpkin this year, so I did the mask one, it was Kaylee's idea, which I thought was great.  Tyler and the girls used some stencils that we had and did a great job of carving them by themselves.  I had them cleaned out ahead of time to make it easier. 

Our ward still did a trunk - or - treat. Some people wore masks, but most did not.  The kids had fun walking around and getting candy and see their friends.  We had some great costumes this year.  Damon just wore his Tony Stark t shirt and passed out the candy. 

The rest of the kids did a Star Wars theme.  It never gets old.  Chris and Kaylee have been R2-D2, so it was funny to see Tyler wear it as a shirt.  We added Princess Leah to the collection. 

It was the perfect weather for trick-or-treating.  Just a light jackets and the kids were fine in their costumes.  They last few years have been rainy or super cold, so it was nice to have a pleasant evening.  Tyler and Damon were invited to be with friends in the evening so we only went around with Chris and the girls.  I'm so glad that we have such a good group of friends here.  We only went around our small block.  Most people had candy in a bowl, so had it put in baggies.  It felt pretty normal actually.  The kids had a good time and got plenty of candy.  I set aside some for Christmas, parties, our Thanksgiving trip, and Easter.  It freezes well. :)

Doug's Birthday, Activity Days, RS Activity with Cupcakes and P-6 Farms 10/18 - 10/24/2020

 The week started with Doug's Birthday.  It was a nice day, I spent most of it in the kitchen making yummy food.  Doug asked for pie for his birthday treat.  I made a banana cream and cherry.  The pudding didn't set up so, we had deconstructed banana cream pie pudding instead.  The cherry pie turned out good though.  We had oven chicken, mashed potatoes, rolls, fruit, and broccoli.  Doug bought himself a new light for the garage and I bought him some more protein bars, a dad joke book, a new family game, and a Captain America t-shirt.  I think it was a good day for him.  I'm grateful to celebrate Doug and let him know how special he is to our family.

Our activity for the girls this week was to walk around the neighborhood pond and eat snow cones.  It was an easy and fun activity.  The girls all had a good time and played some games in the cul-de-sac until parents came to pick them up.  

I had a busy week getting ready for RS.  I was asked to demonstrate some cake decorating techniques. I really have a hard time with these activities because there is so much that you can do, so it is hard to focus on just a few things.  I ended up picking out 3 cupcake designs and then teaching those techniques.  I really don't think I actually taught very well.  I was going too fast because I wanted to give them as much time as possible to do their cupcakes.  Anyway, I think the ladies had a good time, but I felt a little hectic.  I also had made a ton of frosting and cake all week  We had some help from the RS committee but I was afraid that we would run out of frosting, so I made another batch.  We probably would have been ok, but the frosting that was given to us was very soft and started to melt - so I was glad that I had made extra.  A friend helped me a bit too and she had brought some frosting as well.  I demoed frosting a cake - so we ate that during the week.  It was a yummy chocolate cake.  

The weather is finally feeling like fall so we decided to go to P-6 farms for a family outing.  We have been once before.  It was a beautiful day, and actually a bit chilly in the morning so we decided to go right after lunch.  I think everyone else had the same idea, it was so crazy crowded.  But we had a good time.  We went through the corn maze first, we only had minor disagreements as to which way we should go. :)  We ended up taking turns of who would be the leader.  We made it through both mazes pretty well.  

I waited in lots of lines while the girls played on slides.  They had a small roller coaster, jumpy thing, fun house, and a spinny-car ride.  We also watched the pig races.  It really is a fun set up, I just wish there were more of the around so that the crowds would be more controlled.  It is also pretty expensive ($20 per person) but I can't imagine how crowded it would be if it was cheaper.  

Back to School 10/11 - 10/17

The girls still love to build forts or sleep somewhere other than their beds.  Over the weekend they set up the little tent in their room and slept in it.  They sure are cuties. 

 So our first 9 weeks of school ended on the 10th, yah! So then we had to decide what to do with the kids again.  Damon and Chris wanted to stay home, but then Damon decided last minute that he would learn better if he went back in person.  The girls were very excited to go back to school, so it will just be Chris staying home for this next term.  

So the busyness of this week was getting the kids ready for school, gathering school supplies and making sure we had everything that they needed.  It was nice to put away the table in the living room and not have to worry about so many zoom calls for the girls.  Chris will have 1 or 2 zooms a day.  He will miss his LA zoom because of going to band in person, but will check in with his teacher twice a week independently for questions or instruction. 

First day of In Person school. October 13th 

Kaylee

Jenna

3rd Grade with Mrs. Whittle and Ms. Silvas

Chris's first day of band in person. Percussion with Mr. Lucas 

I decided to clean out the attic, it's been a long process but good.  Doug went through his boxes this week and had fun looking through his card collection.  The boys were amazed at how many he had. 

This Michael Jordan card is worth a couple hundred dollars right now.  

   

Family Pictures 2020

 We had a friend in the ward take our family pictures.  I stressed over our clothes too much and changed our outfits on the day of the pictures.  I ended up having to run to Walmart for jeans for Damon, and a shirt for me.  I was very grateful to find what I needed.  Earlier in the week I had found shirts for the girls and Tyler and Chris.  It was all a bit crazy trying to find the right colors and the right size for everyone.  I returned a lot of options afterwards.  :)  

I was also really worried about the weather.  It looked like it was going to rain, but it was also soooo hot that day.  We had just had a nice cool front come through but now things were heating up again and I didn't want all the kids sweaty and grumpy from being hot.  We almost rescheduled, but I really just wanted to get it over with so we went ahead with it.  Jenna and Kaylee had piano lessons right after school so they were a bit rushed to get ready when they got back, but it turned out fine.  Thankfully it started to cool down when we got there, as the sun went down and the kids were all in good spirits and it really was a great location.  The kids could play in the sand when it wasn't their turn and that kept them happy.  

Thank you so much Melissa they all really turned out so great!