A few pictures from yesterday: Sweet Peter in the morning. He's so cute. I don't even mind (that much) that he has woken me up almost every night for the past almost 2 years. I'm guessing I will like being able to sleep through the night someday, but I sure love snuggling with him.
Don't love it as much when I'm stuck and can't get away from him in the morning to take carpool, but it's ok, and he's a sweetie. Taking a nap yesterday my arms.
Little rosy cheeks, so cute. Lily made this little lego set yesterday. She is qutie creative.
Today I was on the phone a bit with Mike Russell, getting our insurance set up. Also the repair guy from Valley Wide Heating and Air was here for a few hours putting in a new furnace. It stopped working on Saturday, we kept the house warm with the oven on Sunday, they did a quick fix yesterday but said that it needed to be replaced. I texted our landlord and neighbor to let her know. We were planning on doing it ourselves, cause they've given us a crazy good deal renting here for the past 10 years. Zillow estimates that to rent our home it would be $2931. We are paying over $1000 less than that. Zillow also says a mortgage payment would be $3763. She and Corey texted about it, and she said there will be an increase starting 2021 and every year after that, which is more than fair, they've been so kind to us. We are so lucky to be here. It is still a miracle that I remember often, that we were able to come back here to this neighborhood after 9 months living internationally, and that it worked out perfectly with the previous people who were renting here, they just finished their home at the end of April 2011, and we were back the beginning of May. AND they also held the house for us, without making us pay rent, when we went to Brazil in 2015 for a few months. They are just the nicest. So, yeah, we owe them big time.
I'm feeling sick and blah, I don't exercise really anymore other than some handstands. I feel like my desire to exercise has just dropped off a cliff, it's kinda weird. Like if the me from 10 years ago saw me now, I think she'd be like "No no, oh no you don't, you will exercise!" I saw a facebook video by a Laura Dixon on being naturally thin vs. dieting and losing weight, she talked about our body being a vase, and we overflow it with too much water (food) so we exercise and do all this stuff to try and clean up the spilled water. "Why not just get a smaller vase, and don't let it overflow!" Yes. I need to change my thinking. Need to stay busy. Need a total health makeover. So I'm feeling a bit sick and am struggling. I'm glads the kids usually help out when I'm in a bad spot. They cleaned the main floor for me yesterday. 💓
A few more pictures - Abi made cupcakes tonight and I let them have frosting to decorate. Photo courtesy or some kid, I don't know who.
And I've been having the girls do violin recitals for my dad's cousin Dennis, and we send him the unlisted video over youtube.
It is a kinda good way to get them to practice when they don't have any Christmas recitals or anything to look forward to or to compel them to practice.
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!
I went by Walgreens yesterday to find a few things to send to Mel and Ethan. I had found some unique gifts there when I was sending a package to Joseph on his mission, so I went there again but didn't have much luck. I ended up just getting some chocolates to send to Dennis and Judy (my dad's cousins that I learned about back in Sept) and a Utah-opoly game that I think I'll get for us for Christmas. We have so many games but we don't play them, so I told myself I really shouldn't buy another one until we are regularly using the ones we have, buuuut then I got it anyway. And I'm going to make sure we start to play with our games soon. We did play a game this past Sunday with the 100 metallic dice I bought. I had seen some Tenzi dice at Scheels when Corey and I were out Christmas shopping two weeks ago, but I resisted the impulse. ...and then ordered some less expensive but just as good ones on Amazon. Us playing on Sunday...
And also from Sunday, the girls doing a puppet show with the little weird bunnies that they make out of fuzzy gloves...
Lily was the creator of this game, and all her younger siblings following her lead
Simple fun.
Anyway, yeah, I'm still running errands this week. Then yesterday I went by the post office to mail those small Christmas letters to Dennis and Judy, and the packages to Mel and Ethan, and then I drove to my parent's house to wish my dad a happy birthday. I have good parents. I'm grateful for how they've helped mold me into the person I am and for my siblings and for the life I have. Grateful for this humble home we were all raised in.
My mom and I talked about Mr. Rogers. I think I'm the one who started my parent's family being on a Mr. Rogers kick, but he really was amazing. She had a few things on her fridge and said she's buying Mr. Rogers books for everyone for Christmas. Should be fun!
Festive Christmas lights....
Today was online Friday and the kids didn't have school in person, so it was a good day to have Natalie get an eye exam. I thought I caught her crossing her eyes a few times this past week.
Good news is that she checked out ok and doesn't need glasses, so maybe she was just being weird. So that's good to know that her eyes are good. Life is good, it's all good. It's a busy time of year, but I'm glad that it's not as busy as it usually is. I'm enjoying the slowed paced of life that this holiday season has given us (trying to focus on the positive).
Today for Light the World, the invitation prompt was "Shining Star: Dedicate the star on your tree to an influential friend. Share a photo of it along with a tribute to your friend on social media". The person I thought of immediately is Nicole. She has been the most influential friend in my life (aside from Corey of course). These aren't the best quality pics, cause I took a pictures of pictures from my mission photo album.
Nicole is also called by her nickname hermana, due to her formerly being known as Hermana Spencer. We've probably talked on the phone every week for years. I think we got back in touch in 2005 when we were at BYU and were both looking for a friend who could relate to the stresses of raising children. Of course there were lots of friends in the same boat, but it was theraputic to talk to Nicole, and over the years we've come to know each other so well. Like sometimes I can call her to ask what I want to do and she'll have the right answer. One example: when I ordered glass for our new kitchen table, Corey wanted one big piece, I wanted two. I called Nicole and got her advice, and she helped me see that one would be best. Amazing, right?!?! And I'm glad that she and Corey were right. Corey was kinda like "What, you couldn't take my word for it?" but Nicole has the time to explain the thinking in terms that my brain understands, so yeah, it helps having Nicole tell me what I want to do many times. Sometimes I'll call her, give her the backstory of something, tell her the decision that needs to be made, and then will ask "What do I want to do?" and she knows. It's awesome. I hope everyone has a Nicole in their life. She's my 911 emergency call operator and someone I also call and share spiritual insights with or family struggles with, and it's the best. She is my twin sister from another mother.
We are two peas in a pod, and two turtles from the same shell! (ha, we'll pretend that that is a saying...)
From when we went to the Phoenix zoo on a p-day (missionary preparation day) back on the mission. I loved all the sisters that I lived and worked with. Me, Nicole, Hermana Justis in front, Hermana Coleman on the right, and I can't remember the names of the two English sisters in the middle there. I'll need to go look up in my old journals or planners. We'd go on a walk in the morning, up A mountain at ASU.
Hermanas Bonilla, Justis, Spencer, and me playing soccer in the church gym on another pday.
I loved all my hermanas. This pic below was taken the day before I flew home. I was a trainer to Hermana Justis and Hermana Bonilla. My first born and second born in the wilderness. (Little Book of Mormon joke there. I wrote them letters to them when I was leaving for home, and called them that, haha. Lehi calls his two children born in the wilderness, Jacob and Joseph, by those descriptions, we thought it was funny... mission humor!)
And while I was looking through my mission photos, I saw this lovely photo of the familia Garcia. The lovely woman in the middle there is Raquel Garcia. Natalie's middle name is after her. I love her so much! I wish facebook had been around then so I could keep in touch with them. I don't know how to find them now. Facebook searches don't work, cause all these latinos have such similar names... there are thousands of Raquel Garcias, so sad. But I loved them.
Hermana Garcia struggled with infertility, and her second son was a little miracle baby that they found out about when she was in the hospital following a car accident. I remember after she told us about her accident and her baby, my heart went out to her and others who struggle so much having children, and I kinda make a vow to myself that if God let's me have children, I'd let them come. I didn't know the Lord would be so generous with us, but her story is part of what has influenced my decision there, and I'm so grateful for that!
Here's another thing from my scrapbook that was fun. I think Hermana Jamison started this, but it was like a fun month by month countdown, with stickers and a few notes of fun things that happened each time.
So there is my "Shining Star" tribute to Nicole and a little walk down mission memory lane. Life is good, I'm so grateful for friends!
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.
Today started as a kinda fun and normal Monday. Joseph slept over. He came home Saturday night, since he was free and approved to be released from the leper covid colony, and cause he was speaking in our church to share some of his mission experiences. Funny, he's been home 8+ months and just barely having his "homecoming" address, that's how this year has been though! We trust that he is no longer contagious. And we're really hoping it is true, since the little boys were doing some Insanity Cardio with Joseph in the front room. All jumping up and down and breathing heavy and sharing air.
We also gave him hugs before he left for Provo, so yeah, fingers crossed. Hyrum took Joseph down, cause he had to pick up his college transcript (from the BYU Independent class he took to fix his failing grade from his sophomore year) and go deliver that to the School District so that they could fix his school record for his BYU application, which is due tomorrow. Hyrum has been working super hard, finished the course over the weekend and took his final on Saturday. He's done a great job fixing his GPA and we're proud of him.
We talked to our missionaries a few times, they are doing good. Daniel wearing his spy glasses.
So, things got interesting when I left for violin. Peter was asleep on the couch in my room, Hyrum was still gone at the school district, Wes arrived home at 2:45, Abi and Lily walked in around 3:15. Daniel said he wanted to go with me so I got him ready, I told Abi she was in charge of Peter, we went to the car, I picked up the girls at school as I talked to Mel and Ethan. I could have waited in the car, but Daniel wanted to get out, so we get out in the winter cold air. Brr! We see Owen walk by, he wanted to ride the bus home alone so he didn't come to violin and that was fine. Mel and Ethan got a kick out of seeing the kids at their old elementary stomping ground. They are all so little and so cute! Especially Owen walking by with his big backpack, winter hat and boots, and face mask on. Sophi, Natalie, Daniel and I head back to the car. 5 minutes into the route to violin, I'm still talking/listening to Mel and Ethan, and I get a WhatsApp message from Abi. I listen to it. "Hi Mom. There is something... that has happened... very major... in your bathroom. I just walked in here, and I will send you a video or photo of it, and I have no clue what to do..." Followed by this video:
Did you catch that part where Lily yells "It's coming through!!!" What? "It's coming through!!!!!" then the video ends. I was like "Shoot..." and I told Mel and Ethan I had to go, there appeared to be an emergency at home.
I call back Abi - "Get towels, soak up the water, ring out the towel, repeat, just get all the water off the floor! Have you stopped the toilet? You have to jiggle the handle!" (It's been finniky for a few weeks, a new problem that I new needed to be fixed and now I'm kicking myself...) Then Hyrum calls. He had just gotten home and as he walked into the side room from the garage, it was obvious that there was a problem, as he saw water falling through the light fixtured in the ceiling... (photos courtesy of Abi, she gets points for documenting!)
I tell him, "Get bowls, catch the water, swap out one bowl for another until the water stops, Abi's working on it upstairs, see if someone can help her! Do you guys need me to come back? I can turn around but I'll be 20 minutes, can you guys fix handle it?"
We've had this problem before (Feb 2016). Several times before.... (Jan 2017). Once with a phone call from the kids at home (Wes in September 2017) letting me know that water was coming through the light fixtures in the side room... so yes, here we are again. "You guys got this, right?" Our violin teacher texted to ask if we were doing in person or online today. I said in person, I was getting off the freeway. Followed by "...although my kids are calling me at home with a plumbing issue, we've got water dripping through the ceiling so I might need to turn around and head back home, but I can leave the girls for their lessons". I call Abi and Hyrum again, you guys ok for an hour? Is it under control? I think they've got it, they're not so sure. I go in to the violin lesson with the girls. Sophi was going to go first, but then she needed to go to the bathroom, so I whip out my violin and have a quick 5-10 min lesson, playing Bouree and getting some great advice. I'm hitting the notes, bowing is good, to work on the tone by practicing with my bow playing closer to the frog to help me get a better sound on, relax my wrist when I'm close to the frog, and to also be sure I don't get to close to the bridge when I'm on the D string, great stuff, I feel like I have enough to work on until January. And then Corey is texting me telling me there's an emergency at home, he's heading home, and I should head home too. So I tell Miss Amy thanks and Daniel won't come with me cause he wants to play, so I leave him there and hope she'll forgive me and I run home with plans to be back in 45 minutes to pick them up. Ahh! I wonder who is the guilty person who caused this water leakage. I am positive I hadn't used the bathroom, plus I know to jiggle the handle, plus I don't use too much tp. I walk in. It was worse than I thought. (These are all still photos from Abi)
Owen told me he thinks we should get a new house.
Corey was home, he had just barely plunged the toilet upstairs. That's what I get for thinking Corey and I can have nice Charmin tp in our bathroom! Actually, I only bought it a few months ago because Costco was out of the Kirkland brand. Darn pandemic! Rona is to blame once again. The kids told me they had jiggled the handle and that it had stopped. I hope they really did.
I get to work. Every bathroom towel is wet and thrown in our tub, but the floor is still soaked. I go and grab the swim towels. I'm still pondering how this happened and how it caused so much flooding so quickly? The only other people at home when I left were Daniel and Wes. Wes says he never uses my bathroom and hasn't for weeks. Daniel doesn't use tp when he goes #1, and I know he didn't go #2 cause he hollers for me to come wipe him, and again, I would have jiggled the handle AND I wouldn't have clogged the toilet. I continue to ponder as I mop up water. No wait, Lily and Abi had just barely gotten home from school. But was the toilet so fast that it would flow over and make such a big mess so quickly, that in 10 -20 minutes it was pouring into the floor below? A mystery we may never know until the next life, when God can finally give me the answer all my deep questions - "Who clogged the master toilet on December 14, 2020?" I trust someday this mystery will be solved. We'll see if any of the kids fess up. Corey didn't know what to do to help, and I'm the one who handles these special projects anyway, so I told him to go pick up the girls at violin. While he was gone, I ran to Home Depot for a floor fan, they didn't have small ones, just a big major one for $99, so we skipped the carpet fan, but I did get a new side toilet lever and our toilet is now fixed. Next time, I will remember that when it comes to water issues, do not "Use it up, Wear it out, Make it due...". I should have fixed the handle sooner. Lesson learned and noted in my brain and here. Fix it. Our house is now in a state of disaster, so I shall now go start another load of laundry and wash more of our big kitchen bowls and beg the kids to keep helping me get the rooms that were not attacked in a lovely state, so we can have a feigned sense of calm in a few areas of the house. (thank you Hyrum for cleaning the front room and loading the dishwasher!) The rest of the kids helped too, but Hyrum was my big life saver. Sorry to keep you from your BYU essays! I trust you will be blessed for your sacrifice. Life is still good, even with water damage, but I'd be fine if this never happens again.
Happy Birthday to Melodie in far away Indiana! We've got another 20 year old. I guess that means that we're getting old... We sure love her and miss her face! She was able to call and it was fun to see her, as always. We'll talk to her again on Monday. I'm sure she'll share in her weekly email what she did for festivities. Today she was happy to just see Peter and her little brothers and sisters.
We did not have cake and ice cream here on her behalf. We'll have plenty of junk food soon enough with Christmas coming up in two weeks. People are starting to send around gifts and goodies. The kids want us to do something too, but I haven't gotten anything going yet. I don't think we can/should do our usual plate of baked good with covid, so we'll see. What else is going on here. I got a cute video of Petet and Sophi playing cars. Peter loves cars. He loves McQueen, Mater, Mack and all of them. We left our Cars dvd in Hawaii. I called to see if they found it but they said they didn't, so that's too bad. Now we're stuck watching Cars 2 most of the time, and that one really is so dumb. But Peter likes it. We have all the movies via Disney+ but we might need to fork out some money to get Cars 1 in dvd format again to save us from Cars 2. Today he had Sophi play crash the cars with him.
Once she started to play, he wouldn't let her stop, and if she tried to stand up and walk away, he'd pout and point at the barstool to tell her to come sit back down.
I love seeing the older kids play down to Peter and Daniel's level. They are all very good to Peter, and they are usually pretty good to Owen and Daniel too, even though O and D do get very loud and bothersome sometimes. But I love our large family and feel so grateful to have each of them in our life.
It happens everynight... The sun goes down, and the boys begin to run around. They run circles on the main floor, screaming, chasing, squealing, laughing, wrestling, hitting, crying, making up, repeat... Peter is starting to get in on the action, which is pretty cute to watch...
They'll often wrestle in the front room, sometimes we can get them to go up into our room to fight it out, giving the girls more of a chance to practice their instruments in the front room or music room. Look at Peter taking on both of them!
Pretty funny. He is starting to hold his own, it's cute. He's almost two years old, crazy.
Tonight Corey and I went out to India House for date night. They do not currently have dine in, cause covid cases are pretty high here in Utah at the moment. We got take out and went to eat in the Sandy Amphitheater parking lot. There's an ok view of some valley lights from there. We talked about Trump and the misinformed Americans who support him. Sorry if that is mean, that is just how we see it - people are misinformed or uninformed. But then again some of them would say that we are uninformed. Corey knows more than I do, but I agree that Trump is a man without principles. I hope he leaves peacefully, but I don't think he will. He can't admit or accept losing, it goes against everything he learned from his father. That's one of my take away's from the book "Too Much and Never Enough" by his niece, Mary Trump. It was a good book and I believe her message. It also made me able to look on Trump with compassion. I still don't want him leading our country. Anyway, discussion for another day. Covid, election results being contested, sometimes it looks like the world is falling apart, but we are happy and thankful to be safe and have a quiver full of happy healthy children, even if they are crazy noisy everyday after the sunsets. "There's gonna be opposition, ain't no way around it." Of all the possible problems and trials out there, ours is a good problem to be blessed to have.
Lily got Peter dressed up today, in prep for Christmas festivities I guess. He was wearing a cute little red plaid vest that we got for Wes when he was a 1 year old. Wes was a really cute toddler. Now he's a big brother helping his little Peter play the trumpet.
Cute little boy.
So Peter was walking around all dressed up and holding Owen's trumpet and he was pretending to blow it -
His trumpet imitation sound was pretty on point -
He was feeling proud of his trumpet skills.
Tonight the little kids got all dressed in black and started running around playing spies.
Wes doesn't count as a little kid, I think he was already dressed in black.
But he joined the fun for a bit.
I need a better camera that can catch these kids in motion. They seriously start to go crazy every evening it seems like. They run around and yell and play tag and scream very loudly, especially DanYELL. Nickname: Dan-yell-a-lot. (We stole that from our Moxie salesman). I've started to call this night time default activity "the Sundown Runaround". Owen and Daniel are like twins, and they get loud. The older kids usually don't help calm them down, but that's ok. I'm glad they have fun.
