January birthdays, etc.

Wow, the last 2 1/2 months were just filled with so many things going on both good and bad that I just haven't been up to blogging but I know I want to get back to doing it again. 

To sum things up, in November Nikki ended up spending a week in the mental hospital in Meridian where they changed her diagnosis to Borderline Personality Disorder and changed her meds to put her on Prozac for depression. Unfortunately she went through some very big challenges with losing her two best friends (her boyfriend dumped her to date her best friend) but has since made new friends and reconnected with other old friends. The depression meds seem to be helping but I think she would do better if she would exercise more. Also, because of her struggles with her mental health Nikki quit her job at Del Taco mid December. It was all we could do to get her through the semester before Christmas break. Because of her struggles with her mental health we decided to let it be her choice to go to church. Since then, she has only gone 2 or 3 times and that's usually because a cousin was giving a mission homecoming/farewell talk. We just continue to pray that she will get her mental health in order and have the experiences she needs to come back church activity later.

During Christmas break we were able to spend some time together as a family at a cabin we rented in Garden Valley, ID. We spent Christmas there and invited my dad to come up and play the role of Santa. He was able to borrow a Santa suit from my step brother Scott. It worked out great and we had a wonderful time up there. I posted our pictures about it on Facebook so I'll just post a few here since I still have January to catch up on also.

On New Year's Eve I decided to start Garrett's 1000 piece Star Wars puzzle he received for his birthday in September. I figured maybe he's more likely to want to do it if I get it started. Some days I didn't work on it but by the next weekend I was halfway and Garrett finally started helping and was really getting into it. It took about 1 1/2 weeks to put together the puzzle. Alice was actually the first one to help me with it and then when we got close to the end that's when Garrett, Nikki, Jack and Charlotte did some helping. 

Nikki had her 18th birthday on the 11th. She said that we could celebrate our birthdays together the weekend after but of course I had to do something on her special day. I bought some balloons and decorations and Alice helped me decorate her room while she was at school. It was fun and she loved the surprise.

Alice had made a couple of homemade cards for Nikki before her birthday and that made Charlotte really want to get Nikki a present but we didn't have time before her birthday. The best idea I could think of for her was to bake Nikki her favorite cookies, oatmeal (without raisins). I helped her with the cookies that night and then the next day we went to the dollar store where she picked out a little bird house that Nikki can paint and got one for herself as well. On a later date they painted them together.

It takes a lot of effort to squeeze that cookie dough scoop!

Enjoying a freshly baked cookie.

Charlotte also picked out a decoration that says "My cat is my 💓" and I saw this wall sticker that says "Change is good".

Painting their bird houses.

I love that they did it together.

Nikki says hers is a "Bruno" bird house. Bruno from the movie "Encanto". We love that movie!

Nikki really wanted to open one present on her actual birthday. Curtis was really sleepy by the time we got around to it but we did it anyway. We got her a light projector that has stars, aurora waves, white noise, and bluetooth capabilities. It also comes with a remote. She loved it!

Nikki has trouble sleeping sometimes and doesn't want to be alone so we're hoping this helps.

Here are a couple of cute photos of Alice. She's such a cutie pie! And she's actually starting to ask me to do different things with her hair. Yay!

Now to my birthday weekend. I didn't really feel like celebrating my birthday this year so it's nice that Nikki wanted to celebrate it with me. With her graduating high school this spring who knows where she'll be on her next birthday. Curtis and I started with going out to eat on Saturday the 15th to a Chinese buffet called City Buffet. This is our new favorite Chinese food restaurant. We especially love the coconut shrimp. So good! We went shopping after that to find me some new clothes for my birthday. I hadn't been to Ross in a long time so we went there....and I scored! It's typically very difficult to find things I like but this time around I think I got 7 tops & 2 jeans. It feels so good to have new clothes to wear again! However, Curtis needed to wrap them for my birthday so I would have to wait an extra day to wear them. We also stopped at the grocery store and then went home to relax and watch a movie. 

Nikki decided that she wanted carrot cake so we bought a cake mix, frosting and some ice cream. This year we just shared the cake for both of us. After dinner we had parents and grandma Norton come over to celebrate with us. We sang the birthday song, then took turns opening gifts. Nikki bought a party hat and whoever was opening a gift was the one to wear it.

This was a year for trick candles. We had fun trying to blow them out together!

We got Nikki her own weighted blanket in hopes that will also help her sleep better. She kept using mine.

My stack of clothes I picked out the day before.

One of the tops.

Nikki got a towel set with her initial on each one from my in laws.

Nikki loves eating hot sauce on her foods so we got her some Tabasco socks!

A bundt pan so I don't have to borrow one from the neighbors next time I make a donut cake. That was from my parents.

I'm not going to show a picture of all the gifts that were opened. I had intended to get pictures of us with all our gifts in one picture but that didn't happen. Nikki picked out some art supplies for me, one being a wood burning tool. She thinks it would be good for me to have a new hobby that no one else really does. I'm excited to learn!

Anyway, the next day on my birthday Curtis surprised me by taking the day off from work and cooked breakfast of French toast. The kids didn't have school because of Martin Luther King day. After lunch we went shopping with Nikki to get her some new shoes. I also happened to find some new long black boots, so we both got something. 

Wearing one of my new tops on my actual birthday.

My mother in law made us a new quilt bed spread and pillows. The quilt and black pillow were given at Christmas. The red pillows were a birthday gift. The afghan was made by my brother in law Nic. We are loving the new look! We really needed it! I'm going to have to pick out some new curtains for our room now to match.

By the evening of my birthday (the 17th) we had Charlotte and Jack sick with fevers. Then the next morning Nikki didn't feel well either. She had a sore throat, headache, and congestion. So those three stayed home from school the next day. Charlotte was feeling better that day and so went back to school on Wednesday. Jack and Nikki ended up staying home all week from school. Curtis started feeling a bit sick during the week as well but continued to go to work anyway. He used Nyquil to help him feel better. By that weekend (which was last weekend) I started to not feel good. Congestion, headaches, fatigue. Unfortunately I had to miss going to see my niece Ellie give her mission farewell talk but at least I was able to watch it online from home. A blessing that came from covid. I'm slowly feeling better through this week but decided I had probably been taking a nasal decongestant longer than I should so I stopped using one yesterday. I have still had a clear nose but still feel some pressure in my sinuses. I also started using a Neti pot yesterday to help clean out my sinuses. I use it in the morning and at night. Today is the first time in a week that I haven't taken any meds, not even Ibuprofen for headaches. I never did get a fever. We did a lot of movie watching last weekend so that we could rest. The kids and Curtis have all been back to feeling well this week while I have been down. I'm hoping I'll be feeling normal again by next week. We'll have another birthday to celebrate (Jack) and I haven't done anything to get ready for it yet! 

On a side note, Garrett was also ordained to be a priest at the beginning of this month and on the 2nd Sunday he said one of the Sacrament prayers. He went nice and slow and he did a good job. I can't believe I have a son old enough for this now! Also, Charlotte started going to activity days since she'll be turning 8 this year. She has her 2nd activity tonight. It's going to be a crazy busy year this year with Charlotte getting baptized, Nikki graduating high school, us celebrating our 20th anniversary (hopefully in Hawaii), another Seaside vacation for the Nortons, Garrett taking driver's ed and Alice starting Kindergarten. And I might as well say something about the very real possibility that we will likely be moving to Washington for Curtis to open a new office in the tri-cities area for the company he's currently employed with, Keller Associates. It's not 100% sure yet but we're almost positive that it will happen.  I'm just going to be flat out honest....I do not want to move to Washington.... but I also don't want to keep Curtis from opportunity for growth in the company. Change is hard but it can be good. We'll see what happens!