What We've Been Up To

Sometimes during these winter months, it seems like days just blend together. It's too cold to go outside and everything inside is pretty routine. It's been really, really cold this winter too. We've had quite a few days the last few weeks that the morning temps were hovering at near 20 below! Better inside than out, I say!

We've still been pretty busy, which is not out of the ordinary for us, but still....pretty busy. It seems like everyone has had a lot going on.


Dave:

Dave is, of course, the busiest. He's had a ton going on! Between being a school counselor, balancing all of our businesses and being the Elder's Quorum President, he barely has time to eat or sleep.

He does occasionally take time to relax..... or should I say watch football. Hands down, Dave's favorite football team is the Green Bay Packers. So, we were all pretty excited that his team made it to the Super Bowl this year. (We almost thought Bria was rooting for the Steelers, but when she found out that she would be kicked out of the family for such an atrocity, she quickly changed her vote.) Well, Dave works with a few die hard Steelers fans and as a joke, they thought they would start a little friendly rivalry. While Dave was at a district meeting last week, they left him a little surprise in his office.

It was really funny. The kids at the school got such a kick out of it too. I think it was a sweet revenge when the Packers ended up beating the Steelers and winning the super bowl.

We're also really excited because Dave got invited by the school district to go to a conference next month. They only chose 5 people from the whole school district to go and we were very surprised they would even consider Dave being that this is his first year as a certified counselor. But, we're very greatful for this opportunity.


Bria:

Bria has been busy, busy, busy.  That girl really keeps me on my toes. She goes pretty much non-stop 24 hours a day. We set her alarm clock for 7:00 am in the morning and she consistently beats her alarm clock waking up. I don't know where she gets all of this energy.

On Monday, her school is celebrating both Valentine's Day and the 100th day of school! She's been really excited! On Tuesday, she brought home a big poster that she was supposed to fill with 100 things. We spent quite a bit of time thinking of some creative ideas. Bria really wanted to do some sort of puzzle, but I didn't really want to go buy a 100-piece puzzle only to glue it to the poster board and never use it again. So, we came up with a pretty good comprimise. For Christmas, Bria got some Tinkerbell posters to color. We decided to create our own puzzle using that. So, she colored it in and we cut it into strips and  glued each piece to the poster. It was actually a lot harder than either of us thought. She spent almost 4 straight hours working on it. Thankfully, we thought to number each piece BEFORE we cut the poster up. I think it would have added at least another hour if we hadn't.

When I pulled out the camera to take a picture of Bria, Logan got excited and quickly walked right in front of it to have his picture taken. I thought that was really cute.

Bria has also been very, very busy this week planning a very elaborate tea party. We've been driving her to school instead of using the bus and we carpool with one of our neighbors. Thankfully, we do because Bria has spent the better part of her morning commute planning this tea party. She has every detail planned - including the decorations, invitations, snacks, and activities. She even had a date and time. The only thing she forgot is that she is 7 and she has to ask her mom first. I'm just glad I found out before 20 neighbor kids came over all at the same time at 1:30 on Saturday. I guess Bria forgot that even though I'm not in the car during the morning, another mom is and she caught on pretty quickly that Bria was planning this whole thing on the sly. I haven't decided if I will let her actually have the tea party yet. It almost seems like such a waste of planning to call the whole thing off. It might depend on how clean she can get her bedroom. =)

Max:

If I could trade places with anyone in the family, it would be Max. He has the least stressful life of anyone in the whole family. His days consist of defeating Darth Vader on the Wii, eating, sleeping and occasionally going to preschool. He is bored quite often with Bria gone to school all day. He daydreams of the day he'll finally be able to join her. One good thing that has come of his boredom is his new-found ability to organize. He loves to organize. I don't think he's caught on to the fact that organizing is actually cleaning. I know it's only temporary, but for now, I'll take all the organizational help I can get!

Logan:

Logan is growing like a weed! He keeps me so busy. He is such a curious boy and loves nothing more than discovering. Any drawer or cupboard that he can open he get in. Then, he takes things out and carries them through the house until he finds another nook or cranny to put the thing in. I'm constantly trying to find lost items that I'm sure Logan has gotten.

He is learning to talk more and more every day. He can say "Mom", "Da-eeee" (Daddy), "Kickle, kickle (tickle), Dee-nooo (Thank you), Doh (throw) and "WOW!". It's always fun to see the words they pick up on first. All of our kids have been so different.

Another thing he is trying VERY hard to learn is how to jump. He is really close. He gets ready and tries to jump, but his feet never seem to leave the ground. He spends hours trying to practice how. I'm sure it won't be long. When he's not trying to jump, he is running and running and running. He literally does not stop all day. It's so fun to watch! He has a mouth full of teeth - literally. The only teeth that haven't grown in are his 2-year molars.

Me:

Of course I've been busy. What mom isn't. I always used to think that moms were so absent minded, but now I realize it's just that they are the ones that keep track of all the comings and goings with everyone else. I've been trying to learn how to balance and manage things better, but I feel like lots of days the mess and the chaos win. I've been working really hard on WedAnnouncements and had dabbled in soap a little bit. I stopped working with the soap company and my sister-in-law to help with all of our other businesses. It's been a lot less chaotic and I definitely won't miss the farmer's market every week. I do find that I've missed the actual soap part of things. I've been making soap for one of the schools in Dave's district and have had a lot of fun trying new things. This is some I made earlier this week:

I cannot get over how pretty the swirls look. And if you can believe it, the coloring is all natural! This is the kind of thing that I loved about making soap to begin with and I felt like I lost it in the stress and chaos of having a business. But, making it without selling it also has drawbacks. Even a small sized batch makes enough soap to last our family at least 6 months! So, I think I might still try to sell it, but not so much and not let it be so time consuming and stressful. I'm thinking Etsy might be the way to go.

As you can see, we have been very busy. Honestly, I would rather have things happening than not during these long winter months. It seems to help time go a little faster.