A Relaxing Weekend

Friday night we decided to just stay home to relax. The boys each had a friend over and they were either playing video games or watching Full House. I bet you can guess which boy watched Full House...Garrett of course! Curtis and I decided to watch my new Little Women movie using my laptop in our bedroom. It was good but I didn't like that they kept going back and forth from past to present. It got confusing. I think I might like the older version better. Something funny happened while we were watching. The kids had come in a couple times to ask for things and in the process they let Cocoa into our room. Cocoa ended up making his way up into our closet! He jumped from our desk by the window on up to the dresser right next to it. Then he leaped up to our closet and started knocking our hats to the ground. He sat up there for awhile and then finally leaped down to the ground. Cocoa's not afraid of much and he's as good a jumper as Stardust. It's a good thing we don't have pet birds anymore!

 I took things a little slow Saturday morning since I didn't sleep the greatest Friday night. I had some catching up to do on Full House since Garrett had watched 5 episodes without me so I watched two in the morning before going to the Rec Center to do some walking on the track. It helps to have my parents going to motivate me to get there. I was able to walk the track with my dad while Laverne was on a machine. It was also the first time I got to use my new earbuds at the Rec Center and I'm liking them so far! Dad and I both walked 20 laps which equals 4 miles. It feels good to be doing exercise even if it's only walking. 

After I got home and showered and ate lunch I was ready to relax and watch some more Full House. Garrett was happy to watch the same episodes again with me. Jack watched with us also and eventually the little girls joined us. But then it was time for a screen break. And I decided that since I had let the boys play a lot of video games and watch tv this weekend that they could be in charge of making dinner. It was a simple meal so I knew they could handle it. Cheesy potatoes and fish filets! This was actually the first time any of us had made this recipe of potatoes and everyone liked them, except maybe Alice who wouldn't even try them but she ate her fish filet and Charlotte's. I found the recipe online and it's an Ore-Ida recipe and had very good reviews.

 After dinner was cleaned up and I had done a few other chores Curtis and I went to the store to do some birthday shopping for Jack. His birthday is next Friday. While we were at the store we looked for a few other things as well, one of them being a collar for Cocoa. I was waiting for him to get a little bigger before trying one and now he's the same weight as Sage. He also just got his first vaccinations and vet visit on Tuesday and they gave us a tag for the collar that says he got his rabies shot. So I decided it was time to try out a collar on him. He thought it was weird and tried to bite at the bell and has been scratching at it but I think he's getting used to it now. He looks so cute with it on!

 

I'm debating on whether to keep the bells on both of the cats' collars. Whitney said it would attract dogs to chase them if we let them outside. I'm leaving it for now since we're not quite ready to let him outside yet. I at least want him to get his booster shots first, which will be in a couple weeks.

Fun with Kids

This last week the 4 younger kids (mostly the boys) and I have been binge watching Full House on dvd. We borrowed them from Tamara. I couldn't believe how excited Garrett was (and still is) to watch them. It was like it was Christmas for him because we had just finished watching the sequel series Fuller House on Netflix. I forgot how cute Michelle and Stephanie were when that show first started. Well, we started the first season last Wednesday and finished all 22 episodes by Friday. We returned the 1st season and decided we better borrow 2 and 3 at the same time since we're watching them so fast. Good thing too because we are on season 3 now. Although, we're going to have to slow down a bit because it's been too distracting for Jack and he's been taking too long to get his school work done.

We were informed on Sunday that we will be resuming 2nd hour classes at church starting in February. For the time being there won't be any nursery. Parents will just have to take their little ones with them to their class. Looks like I just had my last Relief Society lesson for awhile (on zoom) since I was asked to be a teacher in primary for the 7 turning 8 year olds. From what we've been told we will just begin by having our older primary meet in the Relief Society room and the junior primary will be in the primary room with a short lesson and singing time. We won't be going to classrooms yet. The adult class will be in the chapel where it will also be broadcast to those at home just like our Sacrament meeting. The youth will be in the gym. It's kind of exciting to think we're able to progress again in our return to normalcy. One funny thing that happened at church on Sunday is that the girls snuck some kid sized binoculars (they belong to Jack) into their church bag without my knowledge. At one point I look over and I see Charlotte looking at people behind us with the binoculars. Curtis also sent me a text message laughing about it since he saw it from the stand. There was a family that came up to us afterwards and said how funny she was.

Sunday evening we decided to play Nikki's new Air Pictionary game that Garrett gave her for Christmas. It was pretty fun but very challenging especially when you can't see what you're drawing! You're basically drawing in the air and whatever you draw shows up on the phone screen, which we then were able to transfer to our TV screen with our ROKU device. I got a picture of each of the kids but Curtis and I had videos of us. Pictures are easier to post on here than videos so I'll just post the pictures. We played girls vs boys and for the record the girls won....thanks to a little help from Curtis. Well, the little girls weren't even trying to guess so we needed a little help.

During our game I caught Nikki riding the hoverboard like this.

I forgot to mention that Saturday night we ended up going to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Curtis's parents. The funny thing is that we had a gift card to use but Curtis totally forgot and used our credit card instead. I just told him we'll have to use it when we go to dinner with my parents. Anyway, we went to my in laws house and watched an episode of a glass blowing show that's on Netflix. Then Gaya sent me home with a box of stuff for my girls to use like a puppet making book and a box making book, among other things. The girls were so excited to make something that they both did a heart shaped box before going to church. Unfortunately they didn't last long. We had to throw them away yesterday because well, they got played with and torn apart. They also made a paper bag puppet after church but I forgot to get a picture of those.

Both girls are holding their heart boxes AND wearing new dresses that Alice and I found at DI and Savers last week. Charlotte was outgrowing her clothes so I had to find her some new shirts at least. I was happy to also find her a better coat (only paid $6) and this black dress. She almost didn't wear the dress on Sunday because she just likes wearing her blue and white striped dress all the time. I guilt tripped her into wearing it and now I think she likes it. It's all black but it has some sparkle to it on the top portion. Alice picked out her own dress at the store so she had no problem wearing it on Sunday. I had bought a few brand new things at Walmart earlier last week but it's so hard to pay full price when you know you could find a better deal 2nd hand. Although, I did find her one shirt on clearance for $1 so that was great!

Yesterday was a little crazy. Charlotte went back to having Wednesdays as online learning so the teachers have more prep time for students in class and those in quarantine. She got her assignments done before 9am which is a record for her! She was able to play the rest of the day which was a good thing since we had my niece Aubrey's two kids over as distractions. Aubrey's youngest boy is in the hospital so they needed help this week watching her other two kids. I watched them yesterday from about 8am to 3pm when Shauna picked them up after she got off work. Since I'm already babysitting other kids today I will be watching her kids again tomorrow. They still don't know what is wrong with their little guy. We're hoping and praying they'll get answers soon. He was in the hospital for 3 weeks over Christmas and New Year's. Anyway, her kids have lots of energy and try getting into lots of things. Fortunately my kids were able to help preoccupy them most of the time by playing with them.

Watching Mickey Mouse and eating popcorn in the afternoon. (There's that blue and white striped dress that Charlotte loves to wear.)

Garrett has been struggling in his science class this year and so I finally got him to schedule a time to go get extra help from the teacher yesterday morning. I know he was nervous about going in because he wanted me to come in with him (which was not allowed because of Covid) and he only wanted to stay for 15 min. I convinced him to stay longer so he said 1 hour. I dropped him off and came back an hour later. He said that hour went by fast and that it was actually kind of fun and nice to get help without other kids around so he doesn't have to feel embarrassed. He said he'd like to go in again next week and I said definitely and he could stay longer if needed. I told him that any time he needs to schedule to come in for extra help to just ask. I think he learned a good lesson and hopefully he'll be able to bring his grade up and understand better as well. They are studying geology this year.

Garrett also made us dinner last night because we were having his recommended dinner idea of Ratatouille. I made some French bread to go with it. While we were busy cooking dinner Charlotte decided she wanted to bake cookies. She wanted to do it all by herself. When I told her that I would teach her how to make cookies she got very excited. As soon as our food was in the oven and we cleaned up enough we went ahead and started mixing the cookie dough for chocolate chip cookies. I was so excited that the girls wanted me to teach them how to bake something. I let each of the girls take turns helping with ingredients. We all had a great time and Charlotte was so proud of herself. 

Eating cookie dough is a must when baking chocolate chip cookies! The aprons they're wearing are ones that I made for Nikki and Garrett when they were little.

Charlotte helped scoop one of the cookies onto the pan and then let me do the rest since Garrett had Full House on again and she wanted to watch it. She seemed to think though that she could have as many cookies as she wanted and that she was the boss of the cookies since it was her idea to make them. Funny girl. We did send her with a cold lunch today so that she could pack a cookie in her lunch.

Feline Paralysis

My lifelong best friend Whitney Johnson ordered my birthday present via Amazon this year. Unfortunately it got delayed and didn't make it to my house until Wednesday the 20th. It was funny because she said she finally remembered my birthday (before my birthday) and then this happens, the package gets delayed. Oh well, it was fun to get something late anyway. She saw this shirt and thought it was cute so she got it for me. She also figured I would like it since I seem to be turning into a cat lady. Well, I can't deny it. I'm definitely more a cat person than a dog person.

"Feline Paralysis: 1. The condition in which a person is unable to move due to the presence of a cat in his or her lap."

Yes this really does happen in our household and I would say at least half of us suffer from this...but not just on the lap and here's our proof.

Garrett likes to bury himself in the couches. So Sage took advantage of the situation.

Nikki lays down on the floor and here comes Sage. Grandma got ran over by a reindeer but Nikki got ran over by a cat 😂

She meowed at me while I was taking her picture.

So yes, I really do love the t-shirt. It made me laugh and it's comfortable! And I do like cats 😀

On another note, it has been so nice having Charlotte back in school this week! Now the only thing I have to worry about doing with her is reading. Although, apparently the school district had another meeting this week and decided that Wednesday needs to be an online day so that teachers have time to plan for students attending as well as quarantined students. Starting next week Charlotte will just be at school Mon, Tues, Thur, and Friday.  I got back to doing some preschool things with Alice since she's no longer going to preschool. I also got an appointment made for Alice to get a speech therapy screening. Basically they will test her and listen to her to see if she actually does need speech therapy. I had to do the same thing with Garrett around the same age. Many times we can't understand what she's saying but I think she's slowly improving so we'll see if she needs the help by the time her appointment comes on March 5th.

It also made it a much quieter babysitting day yesterday with all the kids at school except Alice. We pulled out the playdough and kinetic sand and they loved it. I don't know that their girls had ever seen or touched kinetic sand before so they were loving it.

The papers that Alice did this morning. I couldn't really get her to color the pictures unless I helped her do the coloring. It's been fun!

Another thing to note: the boys had an orthodontist evaluate their teeth on Wednesday. They both have some work that need to be done. Fortunately, Jack will not need as much as we thought so it won't cost nearly as much as we thought for him. We're also wanting to get Nikki in to close her gap. They are giving us a family discount on each kid since we have multiple kids visiting them. The great thing is that they have an office payment plan and do not charge interest at all. We thought we'd have to wait and do one kid at a time but it looks like we'll be able to afford it and the boys really need it before things get worse. Garrett has 4 adult molars that just weren't there and we've known that for a long time thanks to our dentist (my brother in law) but I didn't realize it would cause problems. The back molars are starting to lean forward and Garrett apparently grinds his teeth. On one side he has ground right through the enamel on his back molar. He will eventually need a crown. For now, they will need to put some space maintainers in until he gets the braces put on and the teeth start shifting where they need to be. 

Jack is developing a cross bite which is where one of his top teeth are going behind his bottom tooth instead of in front when biting down. They will just put braces on the top 4 teeth. He'll have to get a frenectomy to remove the tissue that's causing his "Butterfield gap" so that the teeth don't bounce back. I can't remember but I think there's something else they said they were going to do as well. They had examined him first and then Garrett. Garrett's is a more complicated case. Nikki had been examined back in 2018 but they want to examine her again. Fortunately, they don't charge anything for the exams and x-rays. Nikki would also have to have the frenectomy done to get rid of her gap, which was the main reason for taking her in. So, we have lots of appointments coming up in February and March!

January Birthdays

Nikki's birthday was on Monday the 11th and while we knew we weren't going to officially celebrate her birthday until the weekend along with my birthday I still felt like she should have her special breakfast and dinner on her actual birthday. I got up early and made some German pancakes and then for dinner she requested curry. I asked Curtis if he would be in charge of that. Although I did have to go to the store to buy some ingredients for him. It turned out delicious! Nikki's best friend Angie wanted to surprise Nikki with her favorite flavor of cake so she texted me on Sunday asking about it. Right now her favorite is carrot cake with NO nuts. Angie also bought her a few gifts. She brought those things over while I was gone with Nikki getting our hair cut. Mine was just a trim so hardly noticeable. Nikki wanted hers very short again. I must be getting used to the short hair because I think it's cute this time. So she got cake on her birthday after all thanks to Angie and it was good!

Delicious curry. Charlotte wanted to give something to Nikki for her birthday so she found stuff from her room. A placemat she made in Kindergarten and some bows for her hair. Nikki was a good sport and played along with it.

Angie was being funny and put "Happy 71st" instead of 17th on the cake she made.

Nikki really wanted to do a glass blowing class for her birthday ever since she saw us do one last summer. Well, I got a good deal through Groupon again for Boise Art Glass plus an extra $10 off so it was a better deal than when we went. It ended up being a birthday present to her and Angie, as both of them were the ones who did the class this time. They really enjoyed it. Nikki wanted to make something she would use so she made a glass cup and Angie decided to do the same but different color.

We ended up celebrating both our birthdays on my birthday, which was Sunday. It was stake conference for us so Curtis didn't have any meetings and we all got to sleep in. It was nice. Saturday night I had baked my birthday cake so I wouldn't have to the next day. I was craving Mexican Wedding Cake, which is a moist cake that has crushed pineapple, chopped nuts (I used pecans) and a cream cheese frosting. I think the only kid that likes that cake is Charlotte (I later learned that Alice likes it too) but Nikki didn't really care which cake I had since Angie had already made her favorite for her. I knew my kids probably wouldn't like my cake so I bought some Oreos for them but said they had to at least try a bite of my cake before they could have Oreos. Not sure if all of them remembered that but I know Nikki did. What a good sport. 

During the day we pulled out a new card game Garrett got for Christmas from a friend called The Oregon Trail, based off the old computer game that was created when I was a kid. Curtis and I died of snake bites. Garrett and Nikki both drowned on a river crossing but Jack made it to Oregon by himself so technically we all won! 😆

Charlotte and Alice played on the hoverboard while we played our game.

This was the first time Alice was able to stand and go on the hoverboard. She fell off a couple times but got right back on. She's taking after Charlotte.

For my birthday dinner I decided we should cook up the turkey we had received from Curtis's work for Christmas but I also didn't want to cook a bunch of other food so Curtis called his parents and mine and they were gracious enough to help bring food. His parents brought cheesy potato casserole. My parents brought squash and a salad. Grandma wanted to help bring something also so I told her to bring the ice cream. Everything was delicious! It makes it nice for everyone when the food assignments are delegated out.  We were able to fit everyone around our table except two so Nikki and Jack ate at the bar counter. It's nice to be able to have a table big enough for guests.

Anyway, we enjoyed our dinner and then moved to the front room to sing happy birthday and open gifts. I had bought some number candles to go on the cake for both Nikki and myself but Curtis decided to buy a different candle and surprised me with it. Nikki was with him when he bought it so she knew. It was an awesome candle where you light the middle and then the rest of it lights up and the sides fall down and continue in a circle while playing the happy birthday song. Coolest candle I've ever had!

We haven't had birthday party hats in years. Curtis decided he wanted to have those also.

The fancy birthday candle after we blew it out. For the record Nikki turned 17 and I turned 38. We're nearly 21 years apart. 

My niece Alivia Cleaver made these rings and Laverne bought them from her to give to us as gifts. They're beautiful!

Fun with hats.

Do you think I could wear this for my new covid mask? 😂

The wireless earbuds I wanted.

Nikki loves the Beatles and she loves t-shirts.

Picture with my in laws.

Picture with my parents.

Picture with my grandma (GG) in the middle. The other picture I had she was closing her eyes.

Our family

It was a good birthday filled with many people wishing happy birthday on Facebook, text messages and even a phone call from my friend Monica. She and her family sang happy birthday to me. It's becoming a tradition for them that I love. Birthdays and holidays are just so much better with family, especially when you get older. The older I get the less I want gifts and the more I would rather just have a family get together.