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!

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!