Valentines and Other Fun Stuff

Some other fun things that happened during the last week other than painting. Alice continues to have me do her hair. She is such a cutie! The little girls both made me a special valentine last week. Alice made hers at school and Charlotte made hers at activity days at the church.

On Saturday after we were done painting for the day we cleaned up and the girls and Curtis and I got dressed up to go to dinner. I bought Curtis and the girls tickets to the daddy daughter date night activity at the Rec Center but Curtis said he wanted me to come with them to dinner first. We went to Shari's because it is less crowded than most places. After dinner they dropped me off at home and headed over to the Rec Center. They had dancing a donuts as refreshments.

Charlotte sat by me but since it was a daddy daughter date night I had all 3 of them sit together for the picture.

Charlotte had wanted to go to McDonald's but we told her this place had everything they did only better. She decided to get the Pioneer Pancake that came with whipped cream, bacon and hash browns. The pancakes were good but we didn't care for the hash browns. (Yes, I tested them.)

Alice and Curtis worked on her activity sheet while waiting. Alice ordered mac and cheese with fries. It was good also.

Alice is wearing her new unicorn dress and unicorn pants. Even though we showed the girls pictures of the daddy daughter event and that most people would be dressed up nice they insisted on wearing these clothes. I thought the girls might want to get a fancy dress just for this but nope. Charlotte is now saying she doesn't like to wear dresses. That makes me a little sad but I get it. I'm just glad Alice likes dresses still.

While they were at the Rec Center Whitney stopped by to get the nausea pills and so I could pay her. I had to get a picture with her and told her to fake her smile (because she was in pain and nauseated). With her moving to Nevada and us possibly moving out of state as well, who knows when we'll see each other again.

Sunday morning the boys surprised us with wanting to make breakfast for everyone. They made pancakes, bacon, eggs and juice. Then after church they said they wanted to cook dinner. Yes please!! So they cooked garlic olive oil angel hair pasta and broccoli. What a great surprise to have them not only cook breakfast but dinner as well in the same day!

The kids all wanted to go to visit Grandma Norton (GG) after dinner on Sunday. We hadn't been over there since at least October so we were definitely over due for a visit. Nikki ended up staying at home with Curtis, who was putting together our taxes and taking it over to our accountant. I have to admit I was a little upset at him for choosing to do that on a Sunday instead of coming to visit with us. I was in a bit of a depressed mood at first when we got there but after we started playing Uno it cheered me up. It was so nice to have all the kids playing Uno with us, even Alice.

Enjoying soda and treats while playing.

Got a picture with all 4 kids taking a drink of their pops.

I kept seeing Cocoa climb on ladders this week but it took him awhile before he decided to sit on the very top. He's so cute!

We decided that now that we have repainted the kitchen wall we did not want to have the girls sitting in chairs and marking up the wall again. We went a couple of days with just no chairs back there and they would eat at the bar. Then finally I decided to look on Facebook marketplace to see if I could find a bench and I did! A guy in North Nampa makes and sells all sizes and colors of benches. We bought this one for $60.

A few weeks ago Charlotte brought home a book order and really really wanted this spy kit that she saw in there. It was $21 and we told her that she would have to do some special chores to earn it. We made a chore list for her and we took turns helping her. The first one was dusting around the house. Then Curtis helped her mop the kitchen floor. The last one was cleaning out the microwave. Curtis helped with that one also. We had two more chores for her to do but decided that she had done enough to earn it. Today she brought it home from school!

It was a read in day in her class so they had the option to ear pajamas to school. This is the first time she has done that because she wanted better pajamas, and she got them for Christmas.

The kit came with a vest, foldable paper binoculars, a decoder, pen with disappearing ink, compass whistle, a voice recorder and a secret agent guide book. She loves it!

On a side note, Charlotte has made a friend at school who's name happens to be Alice. We finally made arrangements to get them together to play after school last weekend. They live in the neighborhood right next to ours. She's hoping to get together again this weekend, especially with no school tomorrow or Monday. No school tomorrow because of a teacher work day and then Monday is President's Day.

House Painting Begins

Our house has been needing repainting and with the prospect of moving and selling our house we decided it would be nice to get it done early so we're not rushed if we do decide to move. Either way it needs to be done. We also knew that my friend Whitney could use some money and she has done painting jobs before so we asked her if she would like to help and we would pay her. I was kind of dragging on getting the painting figured out but thanks to Whitney she gave me the push I needed. First, she brought paint samples from Home Depot for me to look at. I had also needed to get over my sickness before we could start. The next thing you know Whitney says she's moving back to Nevada for a job and at first it was going to be the first week of March but then it changed to Feb 14th. That basically gave us one week to have her help. 

She was busy on Monday the 7th so we didn't get started until Tuesday. We spent the first day cleaning, taking down decorations, moving furniture and filling holes. Then we went to Home Depot to get the paint. Whitney helped me decide to go on a darker warm brown in the kitchen and then later she also suggested extending the brown into the front room to make one large accent wall. It turned out great and I'm so glad she suggested it! We were able to get a lot painted on Wednesday and Thursday but by the end of the day on Thursday Whitney's tooth was really hurting her. She made an appointment to go in the next morning. Unfortunately things got worse for her in the middle of the night. She called the ambulance and went to the ER. She had at least one big kidney stone plus a bad UTI infection. She sent me a text about it around 5am Friday morning. They were going to do surgery but decided to see if she could pass it. They prescribed several medications. Some of the meds made her really nauseated. Needless to say, she was not able to help me any more even though she really wanted to. Saturday night I was able to give her some of Nikki's pills she had for nausea and Whitney said they helped a lot, thank goodness! She was moving slower but Monday she headed down to Nevada with the help of her boss. He drove up the day before to help her pull her camper down. They made it and she's already loving it down there. And this week I have been moving slower on the painting. It sure makes a difference having her to help motivate me.

Filling holes.

This is what the kitchen and front room wall looked like before painting.

This is the other front room wall. We had vinyl stickers and our tree decoration on the wall but had to take them off. The vinyl could not be saved. Whitney bought me a new vinyl family phrase to replace the old one but if we're moving I'm going to wait to put it in our new home.

Curtis bought a board so we could stand on it with the ladders. We used it at first but only on this wall. Later we opted for single ladders.

Whitney also helped me decide to leave the side walls up on the plant shelf white instead of brown to break it up. I love it!

Cocoa was having fun climbing the ladders. As were the girls!

This wall in the kitchen bothered me the most. The corner was banged up and the old paint was just so thin it looked dirty even after wiping the walls. As you can see we had lots of dents or holes to fill in as well.

Up on the other plant shelf. The one that goes into the front room and the kitchen.

We needed a tall ladder and so Curtis finally bought us one. The girls were thrilled they could touch the ceiling!

I was on my own at this point and had Jack take a picture. I was putting on the 2nd coat. Whitney had done the first coat the day before.

Got the kitchen all taped up and painted.

This is after so as you can see the color is not much different from the original but is a shade darker. 

On Saturday we moved on to the front wall and hallway. Curtis taped and I painted.

This week I did the 2nd coat on the front wall and hallway. Then did this small area by our laundry room.

I did start prepping our bedroom today. We had decided that since we are most likely moving and need the colors in the house to be sellable that we would make most of the colors the same light color so that's what our bedroom will be also. 

Got most of the taping done today. I will have to do 3 walls first and then the last wall separately like we did the front room. We just don't have the space with the bed in there. Can you see Curtis hiding behind the dresser? 😆

The goal for tomorrow is to get at least one coat of paint on the 3 walls but hopefully two. Then Curtis can help me on Saturday.

Jack's 13th Birthday

Jack's 13th birthday was on Saturday the 5th. It was a perfect day of the week to have a party or at least a hang out with a couple of friends. We started the day out with French toast for breakfast. Then did some cleaning up and a little shopping. Jack's two friends Porter and Rhett came over at 2:00. Curtis took Jack and his friends and Porter's dad to Jeremy's Arcade in downtown Nampa to play games for a few hours. It's cool because you pay $4 per person and can play as many games as you want all day. You can also leave and come back later in the same day. 

Porter and Jack

So they came back around 5pm and had pizza and pop for dinner. We sang the birthday song and ate donuts and ice cream and Jack opened half of his presents. The rest we saved for the next day to open with the family and grandparents. 

He lit his own candles using a match. We haven't used matches for that in a long time.

Nikki picked out this Pac Man shirt for him. Alice got him to fidget spinner that's sitting on the table.

A comfy folding chair to sit and read or watch movies in or play video games in.

A light projector just like what Nikki got for her birthday.

Afterwards the boys played more video games in our office while the adults visited. The adults later watched a Marvel movie on Disney Plus called Shang Chi. It was kind of good. I don't know why they think they need to have bad language in movies to think it will make it better though. 

On Sunday we had grandparents come over at 5pm. It was nice to have it a little earlier than usual, except we did cut it close with getting our dinner eaten right before they showed up. We had some extra donuts leftover from his party the previous day so we lit up another donut. The first time he had 13 regular candles and the second time we did number candles. 

He got the new Lion King movie and some money from Gma Vernie and Gpa Tony.

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He got a 12 in 1 tool with a sheath and I think also some money from the Butterfield grandparents.

We gave him this wooden marble run that he can build and a case of his favorite soda pop.

Nikki also picked out this shirt for him.

My in laws left after we ate dessert and then the remaining adults played a round of the card game Golf. 

Cocoa hopped up in Grandma's lap. 

While we played Golf, Jack started building his marble run.

The next day he spent all evening working on the marble run. I think we did good. He loves it!

At one point Curtis had to jump in and help. They had to tear it apart and redo it to fix some things. 

It was a good birthday and once I finally figured out what to get him everything else went pretty smoothly. And he's to the age now where the friends' party is not a big thing. It's just a hang out with friends, nice and simple. 

My Kids Are Growing Up Fast

 I finally took myself to quick care at Saltzer last Friday because the pressure in my nose and face would just not go away. I thought for sure they would test me for covid but they didn't, probably because of the length of time I had been sick (9 days). The doctor said it was borderline infection but didn't really sound like one yet according to my symptoms. He went ahead and gave me a prescription just in case but said to wait a day or two to see if this virus I probably had would be on its way out. In the meantime, continue the nasal rinses I was already doing with the neti pot and to get some Flonase, Mucinex and Sudafed (I was using generic brands of nasal decongestants). I held off from getting the Augmentin prescription until Monday. It still wasn't going away and so I decided to try the prescription. I have been on it since Monday and while the pressure that was between my eyes seems to have dissipated, my nose is starting to get stuffy again. There were a couple of days that I tried to take a break from the nasal rinse or a medication. Today I couldn't even do the nasal rinse. One side is stuffed to where the fluid won't go through. I got it to drip through a little bit but then it would stop. Ugh! This is so frustrating not knowing what's going on. I may have to take myself to an ENT.

Well, I'm trying to ignore the nose problems and move on with life because I just have to when I have a big family to take care of. I never realized raising teenagers was going to be so difficult. I don't remember being difficult on my parents but maybe I remember things differently than they do. We have always had a difficult time getting Garrett to talk to us but it seems like he's clamming up even more. It's so hard to get answers out of him and he's getting that teenage moodiness. We're trying to learn from mistakes made with Nikki and just try to be patient and loving with all of our kids. He's still a good kid and works hard. It's just difficult when we say we want to help him but he won't talk. 

Garrett has always been loving to babies and small kids and now he's that way with our cat Cocoa. He loves to cuddle with him. I think everyone in our family loves Cocoa. He's such a cute and good cat. He rarely scratches or bites anyone. Usually if he bites it's a playful bite because he's in a playful mood and because someone is petting him in a playful way.

Look at that sweet face!

 Last week my mother in law stopped by with a few books for Charlotte she picked up at D.I. They are all books by Roald Dahl. Charlotte decided to start with The BFG. Gaya also was able to make pillow shams to match our quilt and brought them over with the books.

One nice thing about Charlotte's new tablet is that she can use a timer on it for her reading so I don't have to do it for her anymore. However, sometimes she still wants me to read to her instead of her reading on her own. Some nights I don't want to do the reading but I guess I better do it while she still wants to because it won't be long before I'm wishing for those moments back!

Once again, Cocoa approves. 

On Monday I needed to go to the Boise Town Square Mall to get my opal ring checked and cleaned to keep up with the warranty. This is the ring my in laws bought me for my birthday a couple of years ago. I love it but I usually forget to wear it. Anyway, Nikki only had two classes that day and came home early. She wanted to go to the mall with me so of course we had to bring Alice along.  I think this was the first time Alice had ever been to this mall. It was a fun experience. Nikki took her and bought her a gumball while I did my ring cleaning and then we met up again and did some looking for Jack's birthday. We didn't find anything but then decided that Alice needed to try a Wetzel Pretzel so I bought one for the three of us to share. It was yummy! I think Alice's favorite part was riding the escalator. She had to do that a couple of times before leaving. I realized that I need to take her on more outings like this so she can experience more things. Nowadays it's so easy to just park the kids in front of a tv because you know they'll watch and won't get into trouble. And the older we get as parents the more tired we are and just don't want to do as much. Well, I need to change that and get back into doing more activities with my kids, even small ones.

Tuesday started off rocky for Nikki. Nikki and Garrett left for school while I was in the shower and I didn't find out until a couple hours later that she had backed her car into our neighbor's parked truck. Fortunately for her and us it happened to be our friend Jim's truck. She was able to talk to him that evening and he won't accept any money from her. He said he didn't want to have to get insurance involved and found a tail light from a junk yard for $25 and they happened to already have a spare bumper in their back yard. Her car got a little banged up but not too bad. Jim even offered to help fix her car. She said that the battery light had turned on that morning and the defrosters weren't working so she didn't see his truck, which was parked out on the road a bit. We're lucky to have such awesome neighbor friends!

That same night was Garrett's first jazz band concert of the school year. They didn't have any last semester. We finally got to see him play the drum set for two songs. Well, we mostly heard him rather than saw him. We arrived early and sat in the very front row where I could see the drum set easily. I didn't realize that we were actually in a BAD spot. I should have moved but since we had the two little girls with us there I didn't want to make a scene. When the band got all set up, the music stands and the bass player (like the cello only bigger) and the band director all ended up blocking most of Garrett. All I could see was one hand with a drum stick. Ugh! Since I couldn't even see him I didn't bother taking a video and had to settle for an after performance picture in front of the stage. Next time I'll know NOT to sit in the very front!

He sure looked handsome! (the stage was also set up for the drama class so there's a house in the background)

Yesterday I was back to babysitting and the three girls stayed busy the whole time. They started out with coloring the velvet coloring pages that my girls got for Christmas using markers. Alice has been loving doing those. Then two of them went outside while I cleaned the rabbit cage. Then it was inside for either warm apple cider or cup noodle soup. Then two of them made necklaces. I also remembered that we had a lite bright set so we got that out and they played with it for a bit. But then because I had used clear nail polish on the necklaces as a glue on the knot of the string the girls decided they wanted their nails done. We did all of their fingers and toes and because they all wanted a layer of purple sparkle polish on top of the main color I had to do all of them twice! It  took awhile and some of them smeared some of their polish because they didn't wait long enough for it to dry but it was still fun. We even had my blow dryer out and they were taking turns blowing each other's nails. The only pictures I got were when they were doing the lite bright. By the time we finished nails it was time for me to get Charlotte from school. And this week Charlotte and I started a new routine for pick up from school. I park at the church and walk down to the crosswalk and meet her to walk back to the church and drive home from there. She has been begging me to do that so we finally made it happen. In the spring when it warms up I told her we could walk all the way home. We live a mile from the school so it's just too far for her to walk alone yet and too cold to want to walk that far with her.

On Tuesday Alice had gone over to play with her friend Sydney. Ashlie had braided her hair. The next day she would not let me take it out of her hair even though the braids needed to be re done. So she went to school with messy braids. I was able to get her to let me redo them yesterday before her friends came over and so this morning we made sure we had time to fix her braids again before going to school. She also wanted to wear a dress to school today. Of course I said! I think she's going to be my most girlie out of my three girls. Not that my other kids aren't but she's so cute! That also makes me think of how cute Charlotte looks when I pick her up from school and she's running to the car with a big smile. These kids make me happy!

Well, I could say a lot more about other stuff this week but I think that would make this post way too long. I really need to blog more than once a week sometimes.  But I had to get a post done before we celebrate Jack's birthday this weekend!