A bear, the hot dog dance, and a run.

1/19—Several weeks ago Andrew was asked to give a talk at the baptism seminar for all the kids getting baptized this coming year.  He was supposed to share his experience on what it was like to get baptized.  I was very hesitant to ask him, because I knew he would say no, and it would be a fight to get him to do it.  To my surprise, it took very little to talk him into it.  As it got closer though, I kept bracing myself for resistance and for him to refuse to do it.  It never came.  He helped me write the talk, practiced on his own, and then delivered it.  We were very proud of Andrew!  He’s really growing up!

Sunday night we went to Chad and Julie’s to play games.  We played some of our new games:  this and this.  Both are fun, and I would recommend either one. 

We ate the traditional Uncle Chad cookies, and Ella enjoyed her cookie the most. 

1/20--On Monday the kids were out of school, and Ella had her first pt appointment since way before Christmas.  With Andrew and Luke at playdates, Josh tagged along and we headed to the appointment.  I was anxious as to what the therapist would say seeing as we haven’t really been there since she started walking full time.  The therapist was amazed as she waddled into the gym.  After observing her for awhile, she concluded that she was doing great and was officially done with physical therapy!  Yay one thing off the weekly schedule!  Who knows if going actually did any good, but we’ll pretend it did. lol.

So grateful for these cute little feet and that they are walking around!

1/21--Tuesday was “Zach day” as Luke calls it.  The Pokémon cards always come out when he’s here!

Josh had his first basketball game of the season.  He made one basket and had lots of other close ones. 

We ended up creaming the other team.  This wasn’t even the final score (32-14).  They did great.   

1/22—Wednesday was the usual volunteering swap.  Ethan came over to play with Luke and Katie played with Ella. 

We went to piano and headed to the park while Josh was having his lesson.  We tried not to freeze.  Luckily it’s only 30 minutes long.  The boys had fun dragging sticks through the bark dust and Ella loved climbing up and down the play structure as long as she was holding my finger. 

Since it was customer appreciation day at DQ and everything was 1/2 off, the kids got that for dinner.  I made something a little more healthy for Darrin and I with the intention of going back later to DQ for a “the kids are in bed” snack.

We went to Pack Meeting where Andrew was awarded the “Sprirt of Cubscouting” award. 

Then Josh was awarded his Bear.  Yay! 

 

DQ never happened for Darrin and I.  I ended up spending 3 hours with one of the gals I visit teach.  By the time I got done, it was closed.  Oh well.  Don’t need the calories anyway. 

1/23—Much to my rejoicing, Ella has taken a nap everyday this week (except Sat.)  Halleluiah! 

Thursday night was the dual language night at the school.  We listened to the teachers explain a couple things, ate cookies, listened to the kids sing a couple songs, and then chatted with other parents. 

Since we got home from that at 5:45, Darrin stopped and got pizza on his way home from work.  And Andrew was his shoulder angel while the pizza cooked. 

Josh had basketball practice that night at 8pm (ugh).  The other kids and I snuggled up and read books for a while before bed.  Andrew read Luke a book while I looked for other good ones. 

1/24—Ella woke up and watched the garbage man.  She was scared of it for a bit, but got over it pretty quick.   

She has all of the sudden taken a liking to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  She loves doing the hot dog dance.  lol.

The weather has still been quite dry which is so unusual for us.  So Friday afternoon we played outside.  Ella was a pain, but she was happy at this minute to stand by Hudson.  Ella is scared to just walk around and wander the park by herself.  She wants to hold my hand and walk around together.  Sometimes I’m not able to go with her where ever she wants to go, and she gets mad and throws a fit.  When she wants to hold my finger and go somewhere she says, “walk, walk” and reaches for it.  I guess that’s better than running away from the park, so I’ll try not to complain :)

Friday night Darrin and I were able to attend ward temple night together.  Sadly it’s the first time we’ve attended together since Ella was born.  It was so nice to be there with my hubby :)  So nice to feel comfortable leaving Ella awake with a sitter and have her be happy. 

1/25—Andrew and I went for a run.  We ran 1.65 miles and walked a lot more.  We went over to a local park that is about a mile away.  I swear I had to pause runkeeper 20 times so he could stop and explore.  It was great to spend some one on one time with Andrew.  Judging from the past week, I think he really needed it. 

Most of the rest of the day was spent playing inside and outside. 

We had Omaha Steak for dinner and the kids ate it up like crazy.   

We Darrin gave Ella a bath and finally scrubbed all the cradle cap off her head (gross.)  Her hair is getting so long!

Saturday night I tried to tackle a lesson in the BYU online class I’m taking.  Now I have to write a 3 page paper.  When’s the last time I did that?  ugh.  Not excited. 

I also prepared my primary lesson.  Have a mentioned how much I love teaching primary?  It’s the best calling in the church. 

There’s our life in a nutshell.  Hopefully it makes some kind of sense.  I was interrupted about 100 times while writing it. 

Peace.

A mouse and HORSE.

This little girl is in the process of giving up naps (ugh).  She only takes one about half the time.  But you better believe that I try every. single. day.  So when she refuses and then we play taxi later in the day, she usually conks out.  Silly girl. 

On Jan. 7th I started my diet to eat healthier and lose 15 pounds.  It’s been almost 2 weeks, and I’ve lost 3 so far.  This is what my snacks look like most of the time. 

This was part of Andrew’s homework this week.  It totally cracked me up. 

So in love with this spunky girl and her fun personality. 

Josh made this cool display of some of his Lego's he built over Christmas break. 

The weather has continued to be warm dry so I’ve been outside quite a bit.  Ella is not used to walking outside on uneven surfaces so she’s very cautious.  Which I should enjoy,  because soon she’ll be all over the playground. 

Andrew made this sign to keep kids out of our garage. 

Do not enter lidl kids. 

It didn’t work.

Luckily I had made a lasagna earlier in the day so we could enjoy the sunshine as long as possible.  Yum. 

Our kids are super obsessed with Studio C. 

Bet you can’t tell it was spirit day at school. 

Josh taught Ella how to shoot baskets. 

Ella loves her daddy. 

Late Friday night Darrin went out in the garage and saw a mouse running around.  So we set some traps.  Today we discovered we caught one.  Totally gross.  I’ll spare you a picture.  Darrin will pay the person that comes and disposes of it.  Call if your interested.  lol

Saturday Luke went to Cason’s (a school friend) birthday party.  Once Luke got over the anxiety of playing party games, he had fun.

After a lazy day, we sent the kids to play outside.  Luke and Andrew played at the park and Josh and Darrin played HORSE.  Darrin finally won after going back and forth for quite a while. 

Later we got a sitter, and Darrin and I went to the adult session of our ward conference.  It was an amazing meeting and I left with a deeper resolve to be a better mother and better at teaching my kids the gospel.  We topped the night off with dinner from Applebee’s. 

Part 2

1/1—For the second part of the break, Aunt Natalie and Uncle Cory came into town for a visit!

1/2—We discovered our oven was broken on New Year’s Day.  It would think that it was heated, but then would be stone cold.  We had someone come out and look at it, but they needed to order a fuse, so it wasn’t fixed in time to bake Darrin’s b-day cake.  I had to take them down to Laurie’s to cook them.  Grateful for awesome neighbors!

Due to the oven being out, we ordered pizza for dinner.  Natalie and Cory got a taste of a Portland staple: Pizza Schmizza.

They spent the day in Portland exploring and brought us VooDoo doughnuts for a treat.  Yum.  The Oreo one was my fav.

After Darrin spent his birthday night in church meetings, we had cake and ice cream.  Happy birthday honey :)

1/3—We took Cory and Natalie to the coast.  A stop at the cheese factory is a must.

Then we went to Cape Meares to see the lighthouse.  The weather was chilly and it sprinkled here and there, but overall it wasn’t too bad.

Then we walked up to the octopus tree.  Such a cool lookin’ tree!

 

Then we went down to the beach.  The sun was setting and the sky was beautiful. 

 

We walked through a tunnel to the other side to another beach. 

We had a super fun day at the coast.  I never thought the coast could be so fun in the winter!

Saturday we hung around the house, Darrin played in a charity soccer game, and then that night we got a baby sitter and went out.  We went to BJ’s for dinner and then to the arcade to play games. 

And just for the record, we all played in a little basketball tournament, and I won.  I beat every single person!!!  I didn’t know I was such a great basketball player lol. 

And to make the night even more exciting…Natalie played Deal or No Deal and won 1000 tickets.  It was so exciting.  We even drew a crowd of people around us lol. 

Natalie and Cory left, and life has continued.  We sure had a great time with them and can’t wait for their cute little baby to be born.  Thanks for coming you guys :)

1/6--This sleeping beauty has not been a good sleeper for about the last 2 months.  This particular night she ended up in our bed which I’m trying really hard not to make a habit of.  Even though I didn’t have much room to sleep, she sure was cute sleeping there. 

Ella decided Luke needed help on his homework.  She’s dangerous with pens, pencils and markers these days. 

  

1/9 We had one last girl’s night to say see you later to Jayme.  We’ve been through a lot together:  preschool, visiting teaching, girl’s nights, board games, Ella’s delivery (she was my nurse), and her experience and expertise got me through my miscarriage years.  We miss you guys tons already!

And Grace made this note for Luke.  Very sweet.

1/10—This little girl has become a terror at any store.  She think she’s needs to get out and walk like the big kids.  She did look pretty cute walking around with her baby, but then she started to have her own agenda and wouldn’t follow us and that’s when things got ugly.  Needless to say, I had to carry her out of Costco kicking and screaming.  Boy have I forgotten what that’s like.

 

1/11—Saturday we spent most of the day in the garage trying to tackle dump Hancock.  We made a lot of progress and Darrin can almost park his car in there. 

1/12—Talking to Grandma on the phone. 

Ella came down the stairs with my hat on looking very stylish and serious. 

1/13—Luke had Ethan over to play.  The weather been in the 50’s so lots of kids were outside playing.  Crazy how that can seem warm at times.

1/14—Josh has started basketball and so our nights are busy again or still…I’m not sure which.  He loves it and thinks this is going to be a great season.  

And this little miss gets drug all over the place going from one practice to another.  Poor thing.

And with this semi-quick non-detailed catch up, we’ll call it good.  That’s what we’ve been up to the last couple weeks :)

Peace out.