December Fun Continues (part 2)

Last Saturday was a fun filled day, at least for most of us. Unfortunately, Jack woke up with a headache and it turned out he had a fever. He stayed in bed pretty much all day while the rest of us went out and did some things. Curtis was finishing up helping a sister in the ward with a project with his dad. I had been on the look out for a bright red dress that Charlotte would be happy with because she really wanted one. The first dress I bought at Saver's, she didn't like. Thankfully, it was only $5.00 but earlier in the week I found one on Facebook marketplace and it was in Nampa so I wouldn't have to go far. I messaged the gal but didn't get a reply until several days later, which was Saturday morning. We arranged to go look at it and Charlotte said she liked it so we bought that one for $5 as well! It was located in a neighborhood behind South Middle School, so it was only a 5 min drive. 

After getting home with the dress, Charlotte tried it on with her white vest from the other dress I had just bought (the white one) and she was very happy with it. Thank goodness, because I was done buying dresses for her! 😂 I told the girls they needed to take a shower or bath early today because I knew we were going to be busy. After the girls showered/bathed I took them over to the Rec Center to do Santa's workshop. They had crafts, games, cookies and Santa. However, my girls were fine to just see Santa from far away. They did write letters to him though and stuck it in a box. Charlotte got hers in there before I could get a picture but I did get Alice's. Charlotte asked for a sewing machine (kid size). Charlotte actually already knows the truth about Santa because she found out last spring when her friend from school kept saying it, so we told her. She's fine with it though because now she gets to be one of Santa's helpers at home. Alice is the only one left.

Alice asked for an electric cat and dog. She also asked for a light projector like Charlotte's. And then I added "Or any toy you think I would like". 

They made pins.

Coloring reindeer headbands.

Wearing their headbands and made an ornament.

Playing a game where they knock each other's pin down while standing in the hoop with it.

They saved this ornament to make at home.

They also had boxes wrapped up as gifts that they did stacking with but I was busy talking to my old friend Brittanie (Poulsen), who was there with her daughter, so I didn't get pictures of that. I hadn't talked to Brittanie in forever so I was excited to see her. I talked to her about moving over to Kennewick, which is where her sister is also.

We came home for an hour and a half break before taking off to go see Jurassic Quest at the Idaho Center Sports Arena. Since Jack couldn't go, Garrett invited a friend, Hailey, to take his ticket. It happened to be a girl in our new ward who is also a sister to two of his new friends (Calvin and Logan). She had asked him on a double date last week. They were going to do the date last Friday but had to post pone it. She is a fun girl and talkative, meaning she got Garrett to talk! I'm mad at myself for not getting a good picture with both of them in it. I was mostly following the girls around and we were moving quickly.

The dinosaurs were big, I'm assuming actual life size but they also had moving parts, like the head and tail would move up and down. Our girls were moving too fast to read any information at each station.

This was the only shot I got Garrett and Hailey in. I should have told her to look but I didn't! Mad at myself!

This shark was huge! And the tail moved.

The girls got to take a short ride on these moving dinosaurs (on wheels).

Both girls loved it!

This was the biggest dinosaur they could get on but it didn't move much. The head and tail moved but that was it. There were some other smaller dinosaurs that you could get on that moved more.

Alice wasn't scared at all.

They had multiple inflatables.

Excavating fossils. They ended up bringing them home to finish another day.

They finished excavating their fossils after church on Sunday.

It was messy but fun for them. Charlotte helped Alice with hers.

They each found 3 treasures. Some looked like rocks and some were small shells.

The girls had a great time and we could have stayed there longer but Garrett and Hailey were done after 2 hours and it was time for dinner anyway. Jurassic Quest was cool and fun but it's mostly geared toward younger kids so I wouldn't take my teenagers there again.

We ate dinner at Idaho Pizza Company where Garrett and Hailey had a competition to see who could sprinkle more chili flakes on their slice of pizza and eat as much of it as possible without getting a drink. Hailey won that competition. Garrett could only eat 2/3 of the slice before wiping flakes off his pizza. Hailey ate the whole thing no problem! Wow, tough girl! I think Garrett paid for it later because the next two days his stomach felt icky.

Since we were on that side of town, we wanted to stop and see the display at the church on Birch Rd. They started this display a couple of years ago. When I first heard about it, they had missionaries out here with hot chocolate but when we went, there wasn't anybody there. It was pretty cold because of the wind, so Garrett and Hailey decided to stay in the car while the rest of us got out to look at it. It was freezing so we didn't stay longer than a few minutes.

Charlotte didn't seem to need a jacket. BRRR! Crazy girl!

We dropped off Hailey on the way home and found out that she likes a lot of the same things Garrett does, like video games and Zelda. Curtis said at the same time I was thinking it "it's a match made in Heaven". 😂 Hailey is also 16 but she's homeschooled and apparently taking some college level classes. I'm not sure what grade she is technically in at the moment. She's smart and fun. It's too bad we're moving next month! 

The next day, both the girls wore their new red dresses to church (both were bought 2nd hand this time).

I found this nice jacket for Charlotte at Saver's also.

The dress is a size 10 plus so hopefully it will last her for next year also.

December Fun Continues (part 1)

Last week Jack had a jazz band concert that was South and Skyview combined at the Skyview auditorium on Tuesday. Jack had a couple of solos and did really well. I love that he's not afraid to volunteer for solos.

He is doing one of his solos. I just recently found out from Tamara that I can take pictures while I'm taking a video. Yay!

I don't remember if Alice woke up extra early on this day but she was sure tired after school. She fell asleep while eating her snack!

So precious!

Last Friday, we woke up to a surprise of 2-3 inches of snow! Right after I woke the boys up at 6am I got dressed and went out to shovel the snow. Curtis was already off to work by then and he didn't have time to shovel anything. I took a couple of breaks to go in and make sure the girls were up and getting ready and to make Alice's lunch. (Alice still loves to have cold lunch every day and it has to be a meat and cheese sandwich. She stopped eating school lunch back in mid October.) 

This driveway is a lot bigger than at our old house. Thankfully, part of the driveway was covered by Curtis's truck.

It took me at least a couple of hours total. Whew! I threw on some ice melt afterwards on half of it.

I got a couple of beautiful pictures!

I feel like this could be a post card.

I was informed by both Alice's and Charlotte's teachers that they were chosen to get the student of the month award for "Owning Your Actions". Each class had two students chosen. It's great when one child gets an award but totally awesome when two of them get it and on the same day! I'm a very proud mama right now!

Alice wore her new red dress. It was bought from D.I. so I didn't mind her wearing it to school and I love that she loves to wear dresses, even to school.

It was sports day at the school and so Charlotte wore her purple basketball shirt. I also love that Charlotte likes to play sports. She reminds me of myself.

As a reward, the girls got to come home a little early with me after the assembly and then I went and bought them a treat of donuts and root beer, which they shared with their brothers.

Curtis got home early that day because his work Christmas party was that evening. He was a little nervous because they asked him to be the M.C. (master of ceremonies) for part of the night. He practiced at home and in the car. His job was fun though because he got to be the one handing out prizes and I think he did a great job. 

The party was located at the Barber Park Event Center, which I didn't even know was there. It's a nice place to have a party. It's right by the river and it has a big open room with lots of windows and they even have two built in fireplaces. We arrived early so that Curtis could meet up with the gal in charge and go over things. I found a table close to the front and just hung out. This party had a theme of "Channel Your Flannel". I'm glad it was casual and it gave us an excuse to buy a new shirt. They had a couple of contests. One was "best dressed". Another was "best beard". The last one was each table had to build a cabin/house that had to have 3 windows, a door and a roof, using a bag of Lincoln logs that was provided and anything else from our table.

We didn't win but it was fun to make. The foundation was 4 speakers that were given as gifts to all of the employees. We just wish we would have thought to put a phone underneath with Christmas music playing. Apparently the interns had music and "fire" and they were the winners. Brigitte and Jeremy were at our table, along with Curtis's supervisor, Larry and his wife, plus another couple. We are all members of the church so it was nice that there wasn't alcohol at our table. Our bishop was also there at a nearby table.

Sporting our new flannel that we bought from Costco. We didn't win any prizes that night (other than the bluetooth speaker, that every employee received) but it was a fun party! He and I both talked with more people at this party than any previous and it made it so much more enjoyable.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit!

We have been getting in the Christmas spirit around here, from putting up our own tree, to wrapping presents, to putting up a few decorations and other fun things. On Sunday the 27th of November, we had wanted to go see the lights in downtown Caldwell because they have a beautiful display but we didn't end up having time. Since we didn't make it to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony for Nampa the day before, we decided to drive over and look. The boys stayed in the car while the rest of us got out to go walk up to the tree. There were a few Angel Tree tags for the Salvation Army on the tree so we grabbed one for our family to do. We didn't stay long though because it started raining on us.

Charlotte having fun with our Christmas dog.

And then Alice doing the same with one of our snowmen.

I got out the Christmas coloring book we bought last week and Alice started coloring. She looked so cute sitting up on the counter while coloring.

We had a couple of sick kids last week. Jack was getting a sore throat but didn't tell me about it until Wednesday morning. He went to school that day but called about an hour later because he didn't feel good. Since we had been around Stillman's family who some had strep throat, I decided to take him straight to Quick Care at Saltzer and get tested. It came back negative for strep. I took him home to rest the remainder of the day. His main complaint was the sore throat. He didn't have a fever or headache and only a little bit of cough and runny nose. He felt good enough to go to school the next morning, which is good because he had a jazz band field trip to go on and I had signed up to chaperone. I almost thought I was going to have to cancel chaperoning though because Charlotte stayed home with a headache and a little bit of cough. I was able to call Curtis and have him come home to be with her so I could volunteer. 

By the end of that day Charlotte was feeling pretty good and since she never had a fever or threw up, I let her go to activity days that night. They made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, which is the way I made it when I was a kid. She had fun and I'm glad she was able to go.

The next morning we weren't sure she was going to go to school but she didn't have a fever, just a cough. Because she felt so good by the afternoon yesterday I talked her in to going that day. She barely made it in time for the bus. She took a mask with her though to wear if she did start coughing, and she did use it. Over the weekend we started using the nebulizer or "breathing machine" with Albuterol. It's amazing how well that stuff helps with their coughs. Alice used it the week of Thanksgiving also.

Saturday morning Charlotte really wanted me to teach her how to sew a bean bag or a pillow with the sewing machine. She had to patiently wait for me all day because I had planned to go to Costco already and we had all slept in. Before I left though, I told her to move the sewing machine out to the kitchen table and pick out fabric from my bucket and have everything ready for when I got back. Since we didn't have any dry beans we decided to make a pillow. She found some red material and had it out on the table. She was so excited to be able to use the sewing machine. She has asked for a small sewing machine for Christmas and I told her she could use mine. It was a lot of fun helping her.

We last minute decided to add some decoration on the outside of the pillow, so she designed a tree out of felt I already had. I helped her with some of the stitching on the tree but she did most of it.

She is so proud of her pillow and I think she did a great job! She couldn't decide whether to keep it or give it away but I think she ended up giving it to Garrett but then it ended up with Jack.

Last year when we had been shopping at Costco, Charlotte saw some red Christmas dresses with soft white vests on them. I didn't buy the girls dresses last year but she really wanted one this year, red dress with white vest. They didn't have the exact same thing. The only dresses that had a white vest, were also white dresses with some glittering light pink on them, so I bought both of the girls one. Charlotte says she likes it but that she would still like to find a red dress to wear with the white vest. I told her it would have to be from a thrift store this time because brand new dresses are expensive so we'll see if we can find one. The girls wore their dresses to church on Sunday. They liked them but we have decided that we will never buy a glitter dress again. The glitter gets everywhere! It was bugging them and me. Oh well! They were still beautiful!

I also discovered that I need to get the girls some nice boots to wear to church with their dresses. We were not prepared for the snow that fell that morning! The boys all wore a Christmas tie from Curtis's collection and I wanted a picture of them but we didn't have time before church and then we forgot afterwards. Maybe next week I'll get them.

Another thing we picked up at Costco was a gingerbread mansion. It was nice because the mansion was already built. We just had to decorate it. And then of course, eat it! We did this activity after watching the 1st Presidency Christmas devotional on Sunday. I ate too much gingerbread!

Jack was enjoying the leftover frosting a little too much 😂

Yesterday was Curtis's birthday but he doesn't like having the attention on him so he wants to wait to celebrate it with Alice so that she'll get most of the attention. Charlotte had me pick up some Snickers bars for Curtis as a gift from her and Jack went to the store with me and picked out a game called Dos, which is similar to Uno. We also grabbed him a diet Coke. Those were the only things we gave him yesterday. I did make him a nice dinner of creamy white chili and home made artisan bread and both turned out great! We had planned to make Christmas cookies as our FHE activity yesterday but I got started on dinner late, so we didn't have time. Instead, we played a game. We tried the new Dos game but it seemed more complicated than we thought and since it was late, we opted for Uno instead since we already knew how to play that one. We played a few rounds and then had to go to bed. I love that we have done so many Christmas activities already and December has just started!

Thanksgiving Week

Two weeks ago I finished up coaching Charlotte's basketball team. I also decided to throw a pizza party afterwards because it would be a fun way to end the season and I know a couple of the girls really wanted to do one. Because it's cold outside we couldn't do it at a park, so I decided to just have it over at our place. Five of the seven girls showed up. We had some good conversations with the parents while the girls had fun playing in the girls' room. Jack was getting the girls riled up but then left with his friend Porter to go to Walmart. Then Garrett started playing with the girls. He even got dressed up in his Link costume to pretend fight with them. Everyone who came had a good time and I'm glad I did it even though I was suffering with a sore throat that morning. During the game I had to tell the assistant coach, Paul, that he would have to help be my voice that day. He was a good assistant. He and his daughter (Ainsley) even brought me a thank you card and flowers. It was a fun experience to coach their team but I'm glad it's over and I can focus on other things now. 

Natalie, Ainsley, Rowan and Charlotte. This was toward the end of the party and one of the girls (Alice) had already left. 

That Sunday, the 20th, after church we drove the kids over to Washington to spend the night and look at some houses the next day. Jack learned on this trip that he does not like KFC chicken, after he was the one who begged to eat it for dinner. Ha ha 😂 We started at 9:30 the next morning looking first at the business office that Keller will be renting and using for Curtis's office. Then we looked at houses, 8 total. We did take a break for lunch though of course in between viewing. Then we drove home after viewing the last house. It was a long day. There were some houses that we thought we'd like until we actually saw them in person. Over the next day Curtis and I kept thinking back to one house in particular that we both liked and decided to put an offer on it. It's a house built in '76 but it's big and had lots of yard and a pool! We'll have to learn how to take care of a pool now. It is also located in a nice area and close to a middle school that looks fairly new. We also wanted to make sure we would have plenty of parking spaces and this place will provide that. I did not take pictures because we were looking at so many houses but during our lunch break we went over to the park by the river. There's a lot of things in the house that will need upgrading like the carpet, paint, doors, etc., but we've got some experience with fixing up a house now so it will be fun to do and I can work on things during the day while kids are in school. Some things we will contract out.

This was a beautiful shot on our drive over there. We were above the clouds at this point.

Here's when we stopped at the river at lunch. It was so cold!

Our offer was accepted contingent upon us ordering an inspection to make sure there's no major problems that need to be addressed first. We went ahead and offered the price they were asking and asked that they cover the closing cost (that can be $10K-$15K).

Thanksgiving was nice. Curtis cooked a turkey and I made frog eye salad. Curtis pretty much ended up cooking two turkeys actually because we bought one for Stillman but because he was traveling the day before, Curtis went ahead and did the brining for him. Then the next morning Stillman was a little late coming over and Curtis had the turkey all ready to be put in the turkey roaster that Stillman brought over. He also had to leave early because Keaton was sick and he needed to take him to the urgent care. It ended up being strep throat. Keaton and Michelle had to stay at her sister's house where they were staying instead of coming over for Thanksgiving dinner but the rest of Stillman's family came. 

We ate at Grandma Norton's house with Grandma, Dad, Laverne (mom), Aunt Deb and all of her family, Diane & Jess, Tamara's family, and most of Stillman's family. Everyone brought something for the dinner and it was all delicious!

Stillman took a picture with my phone. Ha ha

These boys were playing Dungeons and Dragons. It's a board game that Garrett just bought and Jayden was teaching them how to play. I was so excited to see these boys playing a game together!

Curtis passed out after we ate.

So did Stillman.

Tamara brought a 750 piece puzzle over and many of us worked on it. We were able to finish it by 9:30 that night. Not bad! I love doing puzzles.

It was a fun time being with so much family that day. Even Uncle Robin was there, whom we don't see hardly ever anymore.

I was so worn out from house shopping and Thanksgiving that I did not do any Black Friday shopping, not even online, but Curtis and I did go over Friday morning to watch the BSU football game at Grandma's. Our kids stayed home this time. We got there about halfway through the game. It was close right at the end but BSU made the win.

In the back of my mind I was also worrying about needing to prepare a lesson for Sunday. It was going to be my last day teaching. With my mother in law being our new Relief Society President, she knew I would need time to focus on packing and not stressing about lessons so she told the bishop I needed to be released. She knew I stressed over every lesson and so I was grateful that she was thinking of me. I didn't really get around to working on it until Saturday. Friday night we had Gaya over to watch a movie with us and have dinner. We started early because she was subbing at the temple the next day. We watched "The Ghost of Dicken's Past". It's one of our favorite Christmas movies but the first time she had seen it. Right after Gaya left, Stillman showed up to bring Jayden over to spend the night with Jack. They don't usually get to spend very much time together when Stillman comes to town so it was nice that they had this opportunity. Stillman and his boys hung out to watch a movie while Michelle took her self and Bridger to the doctor. Bridger ended up with strep as well. Michelle came up negative. Before watching the movie, we put up our Christmas tree and the girls decorated it. The next day Michelle came with Stillman to pick Jayden up so it was nice to get to visit with her since we didn't see her on Thanksgiving day. 

By Sunday, the kids had wrapped some presents (mostly Jack) and so we have some under the tree already. 

Cocoa likes the tree skirt.

We don't have many decorations up this year but we at least have the tree and a few other small items, including a nice porcelain nativity decoration that I had just opened as a gift from Diane and Jess. 

Curtis was assigned to give a talk on Sunday so both he and I worked on our assignments (lesson, talk) in the afternoon. It was easier for Curtis though because they told him he could use an old talk if he wanted because it was short notice. He found an old talk and just added a or changed a few things. A lot of it had to do with having an attitude of gratitude. As usual, I struggled with knowing what questions I should ask, etc. so I didn't get much done in that hour that we worked on them. I took a break and went to visit my friend Whitney. She painted some ornaments and I wanted to buy some from her. That's her main source of income right now. She also told me that her bigger heater broke and had to throw it away so I brought her a newer nicer one that she was hoping to be able to buy herself. I told her it was an early Christmas present. I couldn't leave her to be cold in her camper while I'm warm in my house. And winter hasn't even started! She and her animals are loving the new heater. 

When I went to Walmart to get the heater for Whitney I also saw this version of Monopoly. It's Nampa-opoly! The whole game is about places in Nampa. I'm not a big Monopoly fan but I think I would actually play this version! I also later discovered on another shopping trip to Walmart that they also had an Idaho-opoly version as well. So cool!

After getting back from Whitney's we all went over to Grandma's again to play games and watch movies while Utah family were still in town visiting. It was fun. Curtis and I played a card game with Tamara, Anna, Corbin and Alivia called Skyjo. It is very similar to a game we already like playing called Golf so it was easy to catch on. After we got home from Grandma's and got the kids in bed Curtis and I went back to work on our lesson and talk. I made some progress and got a little help from Curtis. We both stayed up until midnight. Even though I hadn't finished preparing the lesson I still felt much better about it than I had earlier and it was easier to sleep. Curtis did well on his talk the next day and received more compliments, he said, than any other time giving a talk. My lesson was based on Elder Christofferson's talk "The Doctrine of Belonging" and it also went well. I was able to get through everything I prepared and had just the right amount of time. Many people complimented me on my lesson as well and said I was a good teacher and that I would be missed. I'm so glad it's over though and that I have been released! Now time to focus on Christmas and packing!