Done Nursing

Here is the Wride weekend report -  

Yesterday morning when I went downstairs to make my daily pot of steel cut oatmeal for the family, and it was noticeably much colder than upstairs. I went to check the thermostat. It was set at 68, but the temp was 63. When I got it tuned in October, he told me that something was almost worn out, and asked if I wanted them to fix it or just run it till it broke. I said we'd run it till it broke, and today was the day. I guess I hoped it'd last a little longer, whatever it was that he said it was. Oh well. They're coming to fix it Monday. We are now all wearing jackets cause it's cold, and especially shoes, cause the floor is so cold! I think the air ducts warming up the floor from underneath is just as important to house warming as the air that comes through the vents. 

Let's see - most of the kids didn't practice yesterday, Sophi and Natalie didn't practice at all this week. :( that's sad. I need to learn how to help them manage themselves. We've started to get treats from the neighbors and I ate more than my fair share of the ferrero balls that Gonzales gave us last night (...and Pepperidge cookies from Chandlers.) I need to fix my mindset. I read this quote from an Oprah article article, not sure how I stumbled up on it, but it was good:

"The way we eat reflects the way we think, and the way [we] think keeps making [us] fat. The same is true for other failed dieters. Every time we drop weight without changing our psychology, we may be changing our brains so that we become more prone to overeating. The only way to beat the relapse syndrome is to both eat and think differently."

Corey went shopping at Costco and Scheels yesterday. He got lots of goodies and gifts, most of which were for our dinner guest tonight, Father David. He was up in SL and asked if he could come by for a visit. It was very nice and Corey and I are a good team. He cooked while I chatted with my aunt Judy who I said I'd call today. Then I came down and finished the salmon while Corey helped the kids play musical pieces for Father David. Then we ate, it was a good feast - salmon, potatoes, salad, and a big ol' pot of barley soup. At 6:15 a neighbor knocked on the door - a package Corey ordered had been delivered to their house across the street. I could tell is was the large print Corey ordered of the Tree of Life for Iveth and Diego. Corey continued to entertain Father D while I went up stairs to wrap the print and 3 other gifts Corey had gotten for their kids. Corey also got a Christus statue for Father D and a book of Saints. I think they're not opening it until Christmas, but they don't read this blog (pretty sure) so I'm not letting the cat out of the bag by sharing that here. Corey told Father David that he will send a text with an explanation for his gifts. He's been looking for that particular photo for Iveth and Diego for over a year, but since their Catholic, and the painting is from a Book of Mormon vision, it might not make a lot of since, so yeah, hopefully Corey will get that text to them to explain his thinking. He also said he needs to find an article or video that he listened to that was talking about how hard it is to start a new religion, and that is going to provide some context for the Saints book. 

Here are some sweet pictures of Peter this morning. 

So big news about this little man - He is no longer nursing. Corey has taken over putting him to bed at night and Peter has not nursed for 4 days. Corey suggested on Monday that it's time Peter learn to go to sleep on his own. So now, when it's time for bed, I top Peter off with a bowl of cereal or a banana, change his diaper, help him and Daniel brush their teeth, and then Corey goes with them into their room and stays in there until they accept the inevitable and go to sleep. Corey reads until they are in bed, and I am able to blog or read in our room. So it's working out really well. Corey put him to bed for the first time on Tuesday the 15th, and Peter slept through the night that time. I nursed him the last time on the morning of the 16th. So I nursed this little guy for 23 MONTHS! That is the longest I've nursed any of my babies, crazy. Peter kinda got his own bed in September, but he was also kind of a floater and he and I slept on our floor most nights. Starting in October, it became the boys room, and then I slept in there with Peter on his bed. Owen was with us for a few days but opted to go back with Hyrum and Wes. Joseph sleeps on the middle bunk in there now when he's home, with Daniel on top, and Peter on bottom. I've probably slept in there with Peter more than I've slept in my own bed, so yeah, it was time to bring and end to the madness. Of course, Peter now wakes up and then comes into our room. I am not nursing him though, I just hug him and he lays on my chest and he goes back to sleep. Sometimes I'm able to sneak away, other times I'm stuck, like I was this morning - as he was asleep on my legs.

One leg out... maybe I can get free!

And here's a video that I took of him yesterday as he contemplated this new nurse-less life. His main take away seems to be "No." 

He doesn't like it maybe, but he's doing great. Today was our Christmas program at church. It wasn't he usual choirs, and the congregation is still not allowed to sing, but there was a singing musical number which was nice, and then two other piano and organ pieces. Abi spoke at church and did a good job, and Corey called as a Sunday School counselor. At home, to further Corey's attempt to pique Abi's interest in Jane Austen, we watched Pride and Prejudice. Kinda good for history and culture lesson I guess, which is one of the things we try to do on Sundays - Spiritual, History, and Culture lessons. It's still cold on the main floor, furnace should be fixed tomorrow. We kept the oven on for a bit today to try to heat up the room. We talked on zoom to Shelina and her two cute kids Alan and Naira. Have I mentioned her, she is someone that Ethan is teaching in Leon Mexico. Corey met her through reaching out over WhatsApp to her when she started texting us, after we tried to text Iveth. Iveth cancelled her Leon phone number and we were trying to text her, but instead were testing Shelina, we all started talking/texting, and she and her kids are planning on being baptized soon! Her daughter Naira and Lily are seriously twins. I'll have to get a photo of them side by side on the zoom screen, it's really fun and crazy! Natalie playing with Peter tonight, making a nest around him, ha.

I got a good Polo from Nicole tonight too. She shared about her clutter, and I can relate. I want to simplify and I want less stuff. We'll work on that after Christmas I guess... At 10pm - Corey and I went over the spread sheet he's made with Christmas gifts. There are just a few more things we need to get tomorrow, and I'm thinking about what our policy might be on what we gift older kids in college. We might go the Helen Wride route and just start to hand out cash. Ok, that's all for tonight, thank you Corey for putting Peter to bed! I get to blog, maybe I can catch up soon and will be able to stay caught up!

Melodie's Mission Birthday

I thought I'd share today some of Mel's pictures of her birthday on Saturday, that she shared in her weekly email yesterday. Here's our beautiful missionary and birthday girl! 

Corey's mom sent her a Christmas tree, and we were glad to see that she got our package of party accessories!

Her companions take good care of her and it seems like they all get along great -

Sister Steele on the left, Sister Junot on the right. She said that a family in their ward out there, the Stumpff family, stopped by and gave me a present! 

We miss Mel of course, but it makes it easier knowing that she is in such good hands. Mel also said that they can't burn candles, so Mel fixed that with some computer graphics. She also said "ignore the fact that there are only 18 candles on there because apparently I don't know how to count".

I keep the weekly emails that she sends posted on her mission blog. Her p-day is usually Mondays, so I that is when she writes and when I try to update it. Two more cute pictures she shared this week - this is how she likes to decorate her scriptures. 

Nephi and the broken bow...

I like it! I'll try to doodle a few drawings in mine. 

Other updates from around here: Today I finally finished blogging Hawaii, yay. Sunday Songs was the last post I had to finish. I need to go shopping.  I picked up Natalie from school, she said stomach hurts. As I've been home with her, I noticed her eyes crossing as she talked to me. I set up an eye exam for her on Friday. We might have another kiddo in glasses. And the side room is not put back together yet from our water mess. Our master bedroom carpet still wet by the bathroom door too. It is a great mystery that I would like to solve - who was it that clogged the toilet. I might have to wait until the next life to learn the truth. "Who was it that clogged the toilet on December 14th?" Wesley laughed as I shared my thoughts with him: "I'm sure that will be the first thing you want to learn about after you die." Ha, I could start to learn answers to the mysteries of the universe and cosmos, but I'll be stuck trying to check off unanswered questions from my mortal life - like the great toilet overflow of 2020.

Quarantine School and All Negative

So, we're all home and in quarantine. It might last a 10 or 14 days, I've gotten different messages from the school districts. But no need to fear: Teacher Natalie is here!!

Joseph is isolated in the messy basement, which is where the kids usually set up "school" - so for yesterday Natalie set up her class room in the kitchen.

They all have boxes set on upside down on a barstool for their desks. These are the boxes/bins that were holding the Christmas decorations until I gave permission to decorate yesterday. Last night they were storage boxes. Today: school desks. Natalie's students Daniel and Owen. 

And class continued today - different day, but same "desks" and same clothes on these two boys.

It's ok though, cause we're not going anywhere. The kids have also been playing a Santa game where Owen is the reindeer and pulls them around the house, using a red santa scarf as the reins. Pics of them playing sleigh yesterday:

I don't think they deliver presents to anyone, they just go on a Christmas Eve test drive / joy ride around the house. 

They take turns being the reindeer and Santa.

So, we felt a little bad for Joseph being stuck in the basement. I was the chosen person to deliver food and pick up his dirty dishes. I thought he might be happier down at BYU, and if 3 of his roommates were positive for covid too, maybe they could all isolate down there together? I called BYU to check it out, the person I talked to said he should probably just stay here. Joseph was calling and asking too, and I told him he could do whatever he wanted to do - he was welcome to stay, or if he wanted to go, I was happy to take him down. Last night he decided he would prefer to be back on campus, and that they had a room for him in some apartments that they had dedicated to covid students, he just had to be there by 10 pm. So he packed up, we loaded up, did not give anyone hugs goodbye, I gathered some food to last him for 2 weeks if necessary, since he couldn't go to his room down there to get his food. He's set up with oatmeal, pasta, tuna and tortillas, he should survive. Then he sat in the back seat of the van and we drove down with the windows cracked. Have fun in the leper colony, Joseph! 

That's Corey's little joke, he calls it a leper colony. Joseph calls is "the island" like he's on survivor. The door was locked so Joseph walked around and I watched his 72 hour kit until he came and opened the door to get his stuff. It has been a little easier and less stressful with him gone, and I think it was the right decision because we all got our results back today that we are negative. 

That surprised me, I thought for sure a few of us would have it, and that I had it for sure since I've been around Joseph the most, but hey I'm not complaining. We are going to watch ourselves for symptoms and if any of us do show any signs of illness they will go get tested again. But as for now, we're all negative, and with the leper out of the house, we're going to wipe things down again and then we'll be clean and hopefully stay clean and the kids will be able to go back to school soon. I went to get disinfectant wipes at Walmart and didn't notice the 1 item limit they had. The lady at the self checkout was nice and let me take 4 even though I had 9 in my cart. I wonder when this pandemic will end. 

Of all the kids, Abi was the most sad to not be able to go to school. She loves her friends and dance classes. We were gone in Hawaii for 2 weeks, then gone for Thanksgiving break, the get to go back for 2 days and now we're locked up at home again! So sad. This is a pretty good trial to have, if you take a broad view of the history of the world and the variety of trials others have faced. This isn't Valley Forge, nor Martin's Cove. This is ok, we can handle this. A few other pictures and quote of the day - I heard laughing from the tree and Owen was over there but it was Daniel laughing, and I looked and didn't see him, but then got down on my knees and saw a little elf hiding in our tree, so cute!

And Owen's teacher asked for a picture of him sitting with legs crossed for a photo gift they are doing at school. So here's Owen's picture for that - cute boy.

The girls practiced violin today, hallelujah. We had practicing music be the thing they had to do before Corey and I would leave on a date, and thankfully the kids value their parent free time on date night enough that they practiced so that we'd leave. I have been struggling with getting them to practice or with having anything to motivate them and I don't feel like using threats right now. But today, after Corey got Lily to practice her saxophone for an hour, Sophi wondered if she could practice violin for an hour, and it was easy - 20 minutes of scales to my piano guys playlist, then 20 minutes of review, followed by 20 minutes working on her new piece, and voilà - you did an hour! That was easy! I practiced for 30 minutes with Natalie too, and did more on my own, so it was a really good violin day for me, yay. 

We went and got take out at Beaumont Bistro for our date - but first we went by and picked up a backpack kid carrier for Peter for when we go skiing. Corey found this on his own! A $200 carrier, used, but still in good condition, for $35! Way to go sweetie! Corey is excited for all of us to go skiing! Now that we have a carrier for Peter even he and I can go. I comment how if I carried Peter, I'd fall down with him on my back. Corey's reply made me laugh: "Well, you're better than nothing." haha. We had a nice dinner in the car. I had the beet salad. Corey's comment about giving tips: "Would you like to pay more? Allright." We also reminisced on our trip to Hawaii - Corey comments on why Hawaii was good "You can swim in the ocean for the 'this is legit' then come back and swim in the pool 'and this is nice.'" That was a great trip, we should have stayed there and away from all the spiking cases here in Utah! Oh well. It's still good to be back, covid and quarantine and all.

Bullet Journals

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to try and catch up on life. The kids practiced today, did homework, and I did laundry, ran some errands, and I caught up on Marco Polo messages. There is a new group on my polo for Lily and Sophi - it's an "activity days" group for the primary girls. Using Marco Polo for it is a new idea to help them keep at it during this time of social distancing. The plan is to give an assignment and have all the girls try and do it during the week and then have a new activity the next week, etc. This past week, they challenged them to keep a bullet journal. I was totally impressed by the bullet journals that the Powley's are keeping! The Powley's gave the activity this week and I was inspired. I want the girls to keep journals. Sure I keep the blog for our family, but they should start to get in the habit of writing down their own thoughts and memories, cause a lot of things happen to them that I don't know about and that don't make it here. I have kept journals for years, and it's important. I brought up my journals from downstairs for some show and tell. 

My journals from 8 years old, high school, college, mission, and a few years of marriage are on the left there, and my planners and calendars are on the right. The Powley's bullet journals looked like they are a creative outlet artistic planner/calendar/journal all in one. I might make the transition to that this next summer when my current academic planner ends, we'll see. I like the idea of writing down the bullet points from each day - kinda like writing down my Wins that I used to do with Holly. The girls hadn't listened to the Activity Days polo yet, but I was prepping to make sure they were inspired too. One problem I have is that I tried to keep too many different journals for: Sunday notes, Study group notes, planner, EJC notes and challenges, workout notes, etc - like I have over a dozen notebooks for different things and none of them are used right now cause I'm not organized. I spent part of the day collecting all of them onto a shelf in my closet, and I'm not sure what I'll do yet - I might rip out pages I've written on if I'm not doing it anymore and use it for something else, or maybe I'll keep what's been recorded but just use them all for future bullet journals. It's ok if they aren't uniform. My journals started as 3 ring binders - just what my mom was able to put together to get me started. The first entry in my red 3 ring binder journal is from the day I was baptized, and was half written my my mother. Junior high moved onto the teal binder, and then for years I've used the hard bound 8x10 journals from Deseret Book that they still sell. I have 2 of those right now that are both half written in. Anyway, it was fun to talk to the girls about it. I read them some of my journal entries, like of when I was on a date with Corey after my mission, and we went by Deseret Book and I got the blue journal and had "Tiffanie Wride" engraved on it even though Corey hadn't proposed yet, haha, I recorded that Corey called it "a relationship defining moment"! Also the first date we went on after I was released from being a missionary and we went down to temple square and had an amazing moment when President Hinckley came in to thank and encourage a youth symphony on their upcoming Christmas concert, and then the conductor persuade him to take the conductors baton and direct the choir and orchestra in Handel's Hallelujah chorus, it was so fun, and I'm glad I wrote down what happened, cause if I hadn't, I wouldn't remember as much about it. So - moral of the story - Sophi: keep your journal, cause you're not going to remember what your life as a 9 year old was like! Lily: write in your journal, cause 30 year old Lily is not going to remember how 11 year old Lily felt about things. I gave them all a task to write about Thanksgiving and about our Trip to Hawaii and then I went and got some journals at Walmart for them to use. And fun stickers, pens, etc. :)

ALSO, when I was out, I first went by Dollar Tree for stickers and a few things, and on my way to Walmart after that, I passed the DI, and I thought I'd just run in real quick to look at snowpants, cause yesterday we didn't really have enough big snow pants for the big kids - Joseph Hyrum Wesley and Abi. It helped that Abi didn't go skiing, but I knew we needed a few more big kid snow pants options. Plus I still didn't have any snowpants yet (I had officially donated my old ones from when we volunteered for the 2002 Olympics to Hyrum) and I had to ask a lady where they were - they're with the coats. I looked through the women's coats and found one pair. Then I looked at the boys coats, then I totally hit the jackpot over at the Mens section!! I FOUND very nice snowpants, that were brand stikin' new for $10!!! Originally $225!!!! The ski sale at Ski N See can't beat that deal!! And I tried them on at home and they ALMOST fit me perfectly, they fit Abi great. They'll fit me after I stop nursing Peter and finally lose this baby weight, but yay, I was so excited!! What an over the top blessing!!! Hawaii was over the top, this was another over the top, wow! Thank you Heavenly Father!! 

What are the chances of finding snow pants that are such good quality and that are my size when I happen to run in to look? And they are black and match my black coat and my red and black coat perfectly well. Pretty amazing. I don't believe in the prosperity gospel, but I do believe that God helps us when we are doing our best to help ourselves and others.  

And then we had another fun surprise on date night. We called in and ordered food for Corey at Blue Lemon. I decided to skip spending $ on an entre because I was working on the left over arugula salad from Thanksgiving that needed to be eaten before it went bad. We picked up Corey's order, then were driving away when they called - they had given us the wrong order. No problem, we said we hadn't touched it and could turn around and bring it back. She said "No, you can keep it, but we will have your correct order here ready for you." So we went back and they gave us Corey's fish tacos order, and the order we got that wasn't ours was a delicious sandwich and pear salad, something I probably would have ordered, so I did end up getting a delicious meal anyway!

AND they gave us two desserts to say sorry for messing up. Like, what's up with all these blessings? Hawaii, great snowpants, an extra date night dinner and dessert? It has seemed today like God's showing off a little bit. He does go over the top in a lot of ways, huh? Like all the amazing kinds of flowers, pink sunsets, the incredible variety of weather and what happens in each season, not to mention the miracle of life, babies, the human eye, hands, heart, breain - how everything works and we get to live and think and experience it all. Maybe the Give Thanks challenge of President Nelson is having an effect on my thinking, or maybe there really are just miracles and blessings all around us everyday, if we just pause to notice them. And sometimes God is really obvious so we can't miss it. I have seen his hand blessing my life today. Thank you Heavenly Father. These are important things to record in my journal! I'm going to try and keep a personal journal more now, even though for the past few years this blog has been my main source of recorded memories. But there are things I'd write for myself that I don't put here, more of my feelings and stuff. So yeah, keep a journal and write your story and with eyes to see, we will be able to look back and recognize all the ways God helps and blesses us everyday. GIVE THANKS!!

Victor's Last Day

Today was another lazy winter break morning. I played a quick game of peek a boo with Peter after he woke up -

I was laughing at him when I came out of the bathroom because that was what I could see, those two cute little eyes peeking at me. So I got on the floor to hide from him, then jumped up to surprise him, it was fun, he's so cute.

He liked our game. He is so cute.

After getting him off my bed, I made my bed for the first time this week. It's time to get things back in order! And since it's the day after Christmas, around here that means I get to carry on my tradition of cleaning up the holiday festivities right away. Cleaning up for just one last time and for good... until next December. Yep, party time's over. Victor is still in the basement, so we only did the white tree today, so as to not intrude on his space too much. The green tree has the lights and ornaments off, and we'll finish it tomorrow. One down, one to go.

The aftermath of Christmas wasn't as bad this year, since we gave fewer presents and a lot less junk food and candy. It's still a mess, but not the usual explosion of holiday cheer.

So I was busy today getting the home back in a little bit of order. Corey, Mel and Abi went downtown to the Salt Lake Temple to do baptisms today. They left a little around 10 with Victor and were gone until around 4. It was super busy so it was a 3 hours wait. It was busy because it will soon be closing for 4 years for renovation. Abi has been asking for a while to go with Corey to do baptisms before it does. There are only 3 more days to make that happen, and today worked out best cause today would be Victors last chance. He is leaving early tomorrow morning. Corey, Mel, and Abi did baptisms and Victor did a session. It made for a full day for all of them but we are glad that Victor was able to go. He joined us for prayer tonight. And I took this pic of them all after.

Victor is the 10th of 12 children, so we joked that that explained Owen's attachment to him - they are twins that way. He was a very nice and quiet company. Not cause he was shy, he said it was mostly cause he was embarrassed that he doesn't speak English and so didn't understand the kids when they came up and started talking to him. He is flying out tomorrow to LA to visit a friend for two days and then heads back to Guatemala. Corey is taking him to the airport early in the morning (6am) We are glad he was able to come visit us!

Christmas Eve

Well, it's late. The kids are all still awake and getting ready to have their sleep over under the tree. But I'm a little worried. Corey is feeling a little sick and he's already in bed, so that means this is up to me. It's usually been up to me to set presents out, but this year it was also up to me to wrap things up, and I am the only one aware right now of the poor job I did. Well, Mel knows too cause she helped. It was mostly because we waited until today to wrap, and Corey took the kids skiing, so I did it. And I didn't know where he put the wrapping paper he wanted "Santa" to use... I assumed he had left it at the North Pole (aka his parent's house) but it wasn't there. I called him on the bunny hill. It was at home in his office closet. I was already at his parents  and I didn't want to go back home to get it, cause I was under a time crunch cause we were having the Wride family gathering at our house at 3. So, we made do with some that his mom had on hand, that she warned us was not pretty. I figured it was good enough to get it home without kids seeing the gifts. And if Corey was particular, then he could redo it. Well yah, he's in bed so that's not gonna happen. I didn't put bows on anything. I've got an alarm set for 2:10 to set it out - trusting the kids will be asleep by then. But I have a feeling it's gonna be missing some of the "magical"-ness that the presents under the tree usually bring. Mostly because we only did 3 gifts each kid. (Well, Owen and Daniel just get 1 and Peter doesn't get any) So yeah, we'll see how this goes tomorrow morning.

A few pics of today - Mel came to wrap with me, and we brought Peter and Daniel. Corey and I had come over by ourselves to his parent's house on Sunday, to bring the gifts and to go through them and decide if we had enough and what to give to who. So it was all decided and all I had to do today was wrap. I left Ethan, Hyrum, and Abi home to clean, and said they could play the Wii when they finished. Corey took Wes, Lily, Sophi, Natalie, and Owen skiing.

Corey said the skiing was magical. And he felt bad that I couldn't see it, cause it's just wonderful. He loves seeing the little girls ski, fall, and then to get up on their own cause he's too far away to help, or cause he's helping this little guy.

Owen likes skiing! And we love it cause it's such an awesome way for them to learn that they can figure things out on their own!!  

Today was also Victor's first time on the hill.

Corey said the highlight for him was seeing Wes and Victor skiing holding hands as they came down. Wes said that Victor fell, and Wes went to help him up, and Victor wouldn't let go of his hand. Skiing is also a great chance for the big kids to learn more service as they help their younger siblings and occasional guest.

Good job Wes!

So they got home from skiing and I got back from wrapping. I left all the presents sitting in the fiesta, not even trying to hid it. Thankfully the house was clean and ready for the family gathering. We started with food, and then something new this year was a game of Geneopardy (Jeopardy with personalized questions about one's own ancestors. We used Corey's pedigree tonight)

So that was fun.

Owen on the ottoman there, he walked around in his ski boots all night! ...and he had all day too. I think him and Daniel feel cool in them. After that we had the family talent show - I played some violin songs with Sophi, and then I did one with my nephew Seth who is a great violin player and I told him I'm gonna catch up with him when he's gone on his mission in another year and a half. Then we played the saran wrap ball game.

The kids look forward to that.

Wes letting me know that as soon as he has his turn to unwrap, Hyrum rolls doubles right away and Wes basically just keeps passing it along. Everytime!

They were small rolls of the dice, making for a quick paced game.

Ethan and Abi won the coveted $5 bills in the center.

So it was great, that was fun, and I still see lights on out in the hallway. I'm gonna take a quick snooze and then get up at 2 am, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Melodie is 19!

Today is Melodie's Happy Birthday!! It was a bit of a crazy evening... She had a concert that we wanted to go down to, but Corey and the young men (Corey is YM President) were in charge of doing the activity today with the Stake's Special Needs group. Corey was behind in hours, so I told him I'd help get the activity ready - they were making gift baskets, and Corey was in charge of getting supplies for cards for them to make with each gift basket. They needed to be big cards and there needed to be 30. So I presented some ideas and he decided that half of a poster board was a good size, then with it folded in half it would be a good card. And so, while I waited for Abi during her flute lesson, I went by Dollar Tree for 15 poster boards and I got some green to make trees, and I got some stickers, markers, and glue to decorate the trees. When we got home, Lily helped me cut out 30 of them. This was our example for the special need adults to follow - grab stickers and markers, decorate your tree, put the presents under the tree, and voilà - you got yourself a christmas card.

We worked fast cause Corey was leaving around 6. I mostly worked on the trees, Lily did a great job helping and she also cut out squares for the presents. Daniel playing with the extra trees.

So since I was so busy doing that, I didn't get ready to leave the house to go to Mel's concert. Plus it was tricky juggling ourselves and the kids - Wes was at a LBB recording at 6 (Corey's parents dropped him off on the way to Mel's concert) We didn't know how it would work with Corey coming back for me and who would be able to come along for the concert... anyway, I helped out a lot with making the cards a success. Corey left early with Owen and Natalie so he could pick up Wesley and then go to the concert. Wes was late getting out of the recording so they barely missed Mel's concert but they still went out after to celebrate Mel's birthday.

Good job Mel! We didn't hear you play but we know you were wonderful!!!

Wes, Natalie, Owen, Corey and his parents and Mel all went out for a late dinner at Olive Garden. Happy birthday Mel! We love you! 

Sorry that in our craziness here I forgot to give Dad your birthday presents. I'll try to bring them down to you. Actually, she'll be home next week so we'll probably just wait til then, Christmas is almost here!

ps - here's a picture of Daniel this morning doing his spiderman reach and stretch after watching me do my flow stretches, I thought it was super cute. They are always watching.