Week Eight

This week could be summed up by one word: cold. The kids had Monday off of school. We had plans to go skiing with about 10 family from church, but when everyone found out that the temperatures were going to get to -20 that morning and the high was going to be 14 degrees, 6 of the families bailed. Since the rate was so cheap ($15/person including a lesson, rental, and lift ticket) we decided to still go. I was a little worried about the weather and even more worried about how it was going to work having Kaiton there, but it all worked out so well. The sun was shining, so it didn't feel too cold. We all had a great time and I feel like I made a little headway with my fear (although I am STILL nervous to do it again). Brooklen said I didn't embarrass him, but he did take me down a few runs that I thought were very scary!

We started out the day by me taking a lesson with Hurley. I was going to send her alone, but an adult had to come. We figured I could use another lesson, so I went with her. She was pretty grumpy, but after a few runs down the bunny hill I felt like she would be okay. The instructor even complimented both of us, which made me feel so much better. Brooklen was super confident on the slopes. He skied the green runs like a champ. At the end of the day, he made Rob take him down part of a black diamond again. He fell several times, but he was still pretty successful. Hurley was crazy on the slopes. She skis straight down and rarely turns or slows down. She is so coordinated and could almost fall completely down and still stand up without letting herself completely fall. Zaya skied between Rob's legs. She loved it and I think next time we will use a harness and maybe even take her down part of the bunny hill.

On Tuesday, I took Brooklen and Hurley to the mall to get their prize for earning 250 piano practice points. A couple of months ago, Rob instituted a rule that if they don't practice, they can't use electronics the next day. They are very, very motivated by this and the result is that they have been practicing 7 days a week and have been getting really good. Brooklen choose two Wii games from Gamestop, Wii Ski and Baseball. Hurley choose rings, earrings, and a bracelet from Claire's. She had a really hard time deciding and we even went back on Wednesday so she could spend another hour looking at jewelry. She is still trying to decide whether she wants to keep the bracelet or not.

On Thursday, the kids had school canceled because of severely cold weather. We spent the day inside. The kids played with friends in the morning and then they spent the rest of the day voluntarily doing work. After getting their piano prizes, Brooklen decided that he wanted a Wii hockey game too and Hurley also wanted a charm bracelet. I told them that they would have to earn the money, so they have been spending every waking hour trying to earn money to buy those things.

On Friday, school was canceled again. The kids played with the Nymans in the morning at our house.  After lunch, they went over to the Nyman's house to watch the movie, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." When the movie was over, I took the kids to the museum at the center for the arts. The museum had a new exhibit about Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions. Brooklen and I thought it was pretty cool; the girls were somewhat interested. The lower two floors of the museum always remain the same, and the kids really like them, especially since we don't go to the museum that often.

Yesterday was "Try Hockey For Free" Day. Brooklen has really been in to hockey lately, so we took him to try hockey. Hurley also got in to the gear and tried. It was pretty chaotic, but the kids had a good time. They got to keep their jerseys and sticks and they were really excited about that. We told Brooklen that he could play next season if he wants. He is going to think about it and decide soon.

After several days with my kids home the last couple of weeks, I feel pretty behind on "housekeeping stuff." But . . . I have really enjoyed having them home and I have just loved how relaxing this winter has been for our family. My kids are so awesome! It is exhausting being a mother of four little ones, but it is so worth it!

Week Seven

I can't believe that it's already the middle of February. Valentine's Day was yesterday; it's crazy how fast this year is flying by! One thing that no one ever tells you before you are a parent is how busy the holidays can be. I never really used to get in to celebrating every little holiday, but with little kids, it is just so fun! And, I can't help but think that in a few years my kids won't get as excited by holidays, so I just want to soak it all in now.

I spent the first half of the week helping the kids prepare their Valentine's for their classmates. Hurley and Zaya gave a valentine that said, "Doh you want to be my Valentine." They included little tubs of playdough. Brooklen gave away little sticky bugs. His Valentine said, "Happy Valentine's Day, Love Bug." Zaya was especially excited that she got to exchange Valentines this year. She just learned how to write her name (I am SUPER proud of her), so she signed each of them herself. She got five or six little Valentines at school and she still carries them around the house with her like they are a prize!

I am the room mom for Hurley's class this year, so I plan all of her parties. I thought that this party went pretty smoothly. I brought Kaiton to the party, and that was a little hard, but I managed all right! That morning, Hurley's class had also celebrated the 100th day of school. Her teacher is awesome and had so many fun activities planned for them.

On Friday, the kids had the day off of school. I took them to the library in the morning. They had all kinds of Chinese New Year crafts and games set up for the kids. I was really impressed with all of the activities that they had planned. I feel really grateful to have lived in places with such amazing libraries. In the afternoon, Hurley's friend, Hannah, came over to play with the girls and Jake came over for a while to play with Brooklen. A

After friends left, the kids and I prepared their annual Valentine's Day meal for Rob. This year we kept it pretty simple. We made french bread pizza (with heart pepperonis), yogurt parfaits (with sprinkles and strawberry hearts), and heart cucumbers. My mom had sent some Valentines goodies, so we had some caramel apples and chocolate pears that she sent for dessert. Brooklen made a really cute menu for Rob. I love all of the detail he put in to it.

We also decorated Valentine's Day cookies this week. We invited Jake Nyman and another neighbor, Sienna to help us.  The neighbors lasted about 5 minutes before they were bored.  My kids, however, are totally artistic and they wanted to spend forever making sure the cookies looked amazing.  I am so grateful for my kids and their attention spans!

On Saturday, we woke up early and headed down to Detroit to attend the temple. We are meeting the McFarlane's there every month to trade babysitting. We got stuck in a snow storm on our way down there on Saturday and it was a pretty crazy and scary drive. We just barely made it in time for our session. After the temple, we headed to Pei Wei to eat lunch. For some reason, we ended up at Somerset Mall right after that. Surprisingly, I was pushing to go home and not to the mall. It was about 10 degrees outside and I really just wanted to go home to our warm house. Brooklen REALLY wanted to go to the mall, however, so we spent 20 minutes trying to find parking and then went in. When we were in the parking lot, Zaya said, "This isn't the mall, the mall is at Target." That cracked me up. She was also soooo excited to go up and down the escalators. There is only one escalator in Midland, at the museum, so she doesn't get to "ride" them often. The kids had a blast walking around the mall. We got out of there without buying anything, partly because I am so overwhelmed with good shopping now! Luckily, we made it home safe and didn't have to battle snow. When we got home, we fed the kids and then they went over to the Nyman's house for awhile. I took Kaiton to Meijer and did our grocery shopping for next week.

Week Six

This week was a much better week for Hurley. She has been trying really hard to think positively and be brave at school and I don't think that she has had any problems this week. This is such a relief for me! Although I have enjoyed the extra snuggles and all of the notes and cards and pictures that she's been bringing home to express her love for me, I really just want her to feel at peace and happy. I love being the center of my kids' worlds, and I get sad thinking of that changing, but, more than anything, I want them to be happy. I want them to have good friends and be surrounded by people that make them better. I want them to love their family the most, but I want them to be happy outside our home too.

On Friday night, the girl's got to go to a daddy-daughter dance with Rob. I made them pretty corsages and they got all dressed up. Rob said they spent most of the time running around with their friends; they had a blast. The boys and I stayed home. We put Kaiton to bed, and then Brooklen and I played some chess (he is really good at chess, and I'm not!). Then, we went down stairs and played the Wii. We had so much fun! Of course, he gave me a major complex because he "smoked" me at pretty much everything we played. I'm glad, however, that he is so good at so many things. We ended the evening by reading the book that we are currently reading, "The Lemonade Crime."It was so wonderful to be able to spend some quality time with Brooklen, by default, Rob usually gets to spend more one-on-one time with him. I love being able to hang out with him and talk to him though; he is so mature and such an amazing little boy.

These pictures are from earlier this week. Jake and Jenna were over playing, and the girls decided to put some bows on Kaiton. He liked the attention, until he figured out what they were doing!

On Saturday night, we went over to the Jaime's house to celebrate Elijah and Sophie's birthday. Brooklen was really cute and was really wanting to interact with the big boys. After dinner, the boys went to Emerson Park to play hockey. Brooklen wanted Rob to take him and he was really concerned about not showing up late, wearing the right thing, etc. I was really nervous to let him go play with the big boys, but I was so proud that he wanted to interact with him. I think this sort of thing might be getting a bit easier for him and I am so happy that he wanted to make the effort. Rob brought home some video of him playing and I was super excited to see that he got right in there and skated with those boys and he was even trying to go after the puck!

Today, Rob gave a talk at church. He spoke about families and making them a priority, no matter what. I had several people come up to me and tell me what a good job he did! I haven't heard him speak in public in forever, but her had been teaching Sunday School for the last year. His content was awesome (of course), and his delivery was really great too! He wrote sand delivered an awesome talk. I am so grateful that he makes family his top priority. He is such an awesome husband and father and I really don't know what I would do without him.

Week Five

On Friday night, Rob and I went on a date. A DATE!!!! A real one . . . it's almost unbelievable. I pretty much begged Rob to take me to Apple Mountain so that I could try skiing. And . . . well, I did it. I may have been in a snow plough most of the time and I may have spent two hours on the bunny hill trying to figure it our and get comfortable, but hey, I did it. It's more about challenging myself to get over the fear than anything and I made a little headway. We are going to go skiing again in a couple of weeks and I am still scared out of my mind to try it again, but I think that it will go a little better next time. Hopefully I won't have to be on the bunny hill quite so long. I really want to get over the fear that restricts me so much. I think a little fear is okay, but I definitely don't want it to keep me from doing things with my family. While we were skiing the three older kids went over to the Larsen's house. Beth Larsen watched our three older kids and 5 of her siblings. I think they had a blast. We took Kaiton over to another friend's house, simply because he has major separation anxiety and I was worried about how a teenager would deal with that for so long. Luckily, I think Kaiton did pretty well!

I wanted to post these pictures because I thought they were so funny. Our neighbor, Jake, came over the other day and was playing in the basement with Brooklen. Later that night, we found these notes that he and Hurley had written to each other. Hurley used to tease Jake that she was going to marry him and he would get annoyed. Now, the tables are turned. There was one other note, which I gave to Jake's mom to keep, that said, "Hurley I want to kiss you. I already have a ring." Apparently, Jake wrote the part about the kissing and Brooklen wrote the part about the ring. :)

I tied Hurley and Zaya's legs together this week for a little fun. It was pretty hilarious to watch them twirl around and yank each other. All was fun until the tie became a little too tight for Zaya and I had to almost cut off the scarf that Brooklen had made for her! Yikes! I won't make that mistake again!

This week Zaya made sweet potato gnocchi for everyone.  She is really good at making pasta and she is always so proud of it.  The best part, however, is that she eats it without complaining!

The Super Bowl was tonight. We were invited over to the Nyman's house to watch the game. Like always, the kids loved hanging out with their friends and weren't happy when we had to come home. Brooklen and Jake took these pictures on Jake's ipad. I emailed them to myself because I thought they were so cute!

Week Four

This week I am grateful for family. It has been particularly challenging for me because, as a parent, I have dealt with not knowing how exactly to help my children. Hurley has had a rough few weeks at school. I had noticed that she has not been "herself" at home for some time. Then, I got an email from her teacher saying that she has been having episodes of crying at school because she misses me. When I got the email, I went to the school and brought her home for the afternoon. Soon after, it became clear that the problem was getting worse and the crying episodes were more frequent and her requests for me to come to school were also more frequent. I'm not sure how to handle the situation. I want her to know that I love her and miss her so much, but I don't think she would be happy being home schooled. All-day kindergarten has proven to be really rough for her. I think she is very tired at the end of the day, and it really affects her mood. I also think she might be dealing with some sort of illness or allergies, but all of our kids don't like to tell us when they are sick. The last couple of weeks have been hard as a parent because as much as I think and pray about the situation, I don't really know how to fix it. I'm hoping that this is just a stage and I keep telling myself, "this too shall pass."

Brooklen had a pretty cool week. First, he lost his front tooth. That silly tooth has been hanging by a thread (and protruding right out of his mouth) for over a month. In fact, the big tooth behind it has been fully grown in for many weeks. Rob and I worked to loosen, tried to convince him to wiggle it, and spent lots of nights trying to convince him to let us pull it out. Finally, the tooth was starting to yellow and Rob and I decided that it needed to come out. Afraid that Rob would yank it, Brooklen would only let me touch it. Long story short, I finally was able to get my fingernail underneath it and pull it out. Brooklen was in shock when it first came out, but I think he was glad to not be bugged about it anymore (although the one next to it has been loose for a long time too). Lucky boy, he didn't even have to go around toothless, since the other tooth was already totally in! He was also lucky that then tooth fairy gave him $5 (instead of $2) for all the trouble that tooth caused.

Brooklen also got to go skiing for the first time with Rob at Caberfae. According to Rob and several friends, he did AWESOME! He loved it and is totally pumped to go again and show off his skills. I am so excited that he is learning these skills, although I am starting to get insecure that my kids are getting better at me at lots of things. I guess I'd better get used to that!