Here we are again! I'm so proud of myself.
Only two weeks worth of my life to document. Hmm. That means I can write about every single detail of every single day and it would still be a shorter post than the last one. 😂
Two weeks ago Monday, the kids and Steve all had the day off. We decided to do another Adventure Challenge from our book. And this time we invited my parents and the Staleys to join us. The one they chose had us building a giant blanket fort in the basement which we ate treats in later.
This is us and the Staleys and Mom and Dad via video conference after we'd each completed our forts.
Us eating our cookies. You can see my eyes at the bottom of the picture. Haha.
On Tuesday, the Hogle Zoo had their last $2 Tuesday for the year, so I took all the kids (they had a teacher work day, so no school) plus Cassie. It was supposed to be a high of 38 degrees that day and when we arrived, the wind was gusting to like 30 miles an hour. We all wore coats and hats and gloves and winter boots and I brought three blankets to cover people up with. I still wish we'd worn snow pants. Especially for the last 10 minutes that we had to walk uphill into the wind to get back to our van.
So let me repeat. I took 6 children to a zoo in 38 degree temps and 30 mile-an-hour winds BY MYSELF. It went surprisingly well though til those last 10 minutes. They have quite a few indoor areas, so we didn't have to freeze the entire time.
The gorilla enclosure was fun because they have a baby. And the male is stinking huge. I tried to take pictures, but they all moved around so much everything was blurry.
They had a small animal enclosure where we got to see armadillos, sand cats, these porcupines...
birds, bats...
this cat (this picture was taken by Jules--pretty good, eh?)...
lizards, reptiles, insects, etc.
Then we headed over to the Asian area where we got to see red pandas, a linx and this gorgeous tiger.
This tiger is pretty gorgeous, too. He was a trooper. Jules hates all things wind and cold, so trooper she was not.
Thursday I told Alison I would go down to my parents' house, which she is renting now, and help her get decorations worked out. I also had a date with Camber that night and a call for Emilia, so I started a crockpot recipe before I left to Alison's. It turned out SO good. Mmm. The call was with a "care manager" for the mental health benefits through Adobe. Emilia wants to be able to see a therapist and we need to get a psychiatrist to get her on meds for the generalized anxiety.
The care manager set us up for an in-person appointment that Saturday, so we were both excited she could see someone that quickly.
That night, Mira and Cecily came with me to Cambers. We ate the yummy dinner I'd made, then the kids played and watch TV while Camber and I chatted and crocheted. Fun and relaxing was had by all. :)
When Satuday rolled around, we had a TON of housework to do and then Emilia had her appointment at 2pm in Lehi. We headed out, but when we arrived, it was a residence with snow all over the driveway and sidewalks that didn't look liked it had ever been disturbed. No one was home, they changed the time of the appointment, and then still didn't show up. I was annoyed, but it would have been fine if Emilia wasn't so disappointed. It's hard to watch your children hurt, isn't it?
I don't know when Jules did this, but she was super proud of herself.
That week, I also made a trip to DI at some point and found a couple games I wanted to try out. One was LIFE. I'd played it as a kid and enjoyed it, so I wanted to try it with my kids. Plus, it was only $2.
I also found a strategy-type game that Steve and I usually like to play. I could tell it was one just by the kind of box it was in. I called Steve and had him look it up to see if we might like it. He checked it out and it was well-rated, so I picked it up for $4. When we went to play it, though, it turned out that the phrase "legacy game" on the box means that it's not the type of game that you play through over and over. It's the type of game you play through to a stopping point, put it away, then come back and pick it up at that point the next time. And they'd already played through it, so all of the items, like stickers and check boxes, had been used. I'm sure we could order those pieces from the manufacturer and still have it be less than the original price, but neither of us thought that type of game sounded like a lot of fun. So I guess it's being donated back to DI. Oh well.
This past week was more of a regular week. Mira had gymnastics on Tuesday. She leveled up sometime last year, so now she's in level 2 and goes for 1.5 hours a week instead of just an hour.
Emilia had a haircut appointment that day, too. She needed a trim, but is apparently like her mother. I enjoy playing with all different cuts and styles. She decided she wanted to go super short. The stylist cut it quite a bit shorter than the picture we gave him, but I think she's happy with it, so that's all that counts, really.
Midweek, Mira had a dentist appointment to make up for the one she missed a few weeks ago while she was on a field trip that I couldn't account for when I made the appointment 6 months before. It was so beautiful that day, I took Jules to the park when we got home. Steve was kind enough to make dinner so I could accomplish that.
Steve had game night on Thursday. He's DMing a Star Wars campaign currently and really enjoying it and his group. That night, Mira, Cecily, and I decided to make a treat for ourselves: chocolate cake. It wasn't until we were putting it in the oven that I realized I hadn't told them to specifically use MY flour in the cake. So they didn't. So I haven't eaten any of this baby.
Friday night, both Emilia and Mira had birthday parties to go to. I thought I would hang out with Cecily while they were gone, but I was exhausted and she just wanted to watch TV. So it worked out.
Yesterday was Harrison's birthday. The little man turned 1! Daddy, Cecily, and Jules took him shopping in the afternoon to get a birthday present for him (there's a local toy shop nearby that we like to support). Jules went with. She hadn't napped the two days previous and she really does still need them at least 4 days a week. She ended up falling asleep like this on the couch while we were preparing dinner.
Harrison doesn't usually like chocolate things, and since I didn't get to eat any of the chocolate cake that we made earlier in the week, I decided to make a white cake for me and him to eat. Plus it would get decorated for his birthday.
Here's a video showing the cake and him trying it. Steve was filming at the end and I don't think he realized he couldn't turn the camera in the middle of the video. So I'm sorry it's sideways for a bit at the end there. https://photos.app.goo.gl/JJUcABMu36jGcpNz9
Steve tried feeding him the white cake on a fork in case he just didn't like getting dirty, but Harrison wouldn't have it. So we tried the chocolate cake after that. I think this series of pictures tells pretty nicely what he thought of the chocolate cake.
They're better close up, if you can click on them. It's definitely been one of the roughest years of my life. But I'm glad he's in it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRISON!
