College Visitors

Kim and two friends came down for the weekend.  I didn't see too much of them because they went downtown in the evenings and I took advantage of their presence and went to Isaac's long football party after his first practice of the new season, without the girls.  Yes, football season has begun again.  Practice three times a week although games don't start for another 1 1/2 months.  When I came back from football and dropping him off at a party, the house was completely quiet.  This is what I found. 

Three big girls asleep on the couch.  Jess asleep on the floor.  Makenna was feeling a bit sick and was asleep in her bed.  It was 2 in the afternoon.  They thought they would go to a 9am church Sunday morning.  Ha ha.  11 was more possible. 

Jess LOVED having the extra attention.  I wasn't a witness to all of it, but I'm guessing she talked nonstop and showered them with cards and pictures.  She had a lot of fun the last morning doing play-doh with Kim.  Some of their creations are pictured.  The first shows a caterpillar with the leaf it's been eating, its cocoon and the butterfly it becomes.  Kim made a viking person.  Jess made her own to match, but called it a vampire, like Kim. Then she would make a mean face and hop around saying, "rar! rar!" Here is a Jess quote for Kim, "How many tomatoes does it take to make a quarter?"

Isaac wasn't home much thanks to football and two birthday party invitations.  Makenna didn't enjoy the weekend much because she did end up having a mild flu bug. She ended up in my room each night which meant I got next to no sleep for two nights. 

Matt was downtown working.  He had come home Thursday to pack a bag.  They gave him and Tim two rooms to sleep when they could and asked if they could be on call till Monday.  It was a rather long weekend for him.  (One interesting side note is that after getting their bill, they decided they would rather have Matt and Tim only M-F and avoid paying their weekend rates. They are keeping our newly hired guys at a lower rate for Sat. and Sun. for now.)  So when he came home Monday afternoon, he announced he was taking the next day off as well.  Yeah! We all slept in Tueaday and tried to catch up on some needed sleep. 

We hope the girls had fun.  Kim claimed they did.  I feel bad that we were so sick and busy.  But I think Kim will come back again.  Jess is writing to her to make sure. 

Jessica's Friend Party

I didn't take as many pictures as I should.  The little girls kept me too busy.  I'll jot down the highlights. 

• She decorated her own cake (after I frosted it). She wanted pink cake with green frosting. 
• She and her guests dressed in pajamas.
• They played pin the butterfly on George and musical bean bags.
• They made their own pizzas and ate them.
• They got out all the spare blankets and pillows in the house to make a huge cozy spot for watching a movie, Ella Enchanted. (Though she wanted Better Off Dead, I talked her out of it.)
• She was a sweet hostess and everyone had fun.

She put the candles in too.  She changed from monkey shirt to monkey pajamas before her friends came.

About to open presents.

Singing "Happy Birthday." Everyone took home balloons. 

You CAN have snow.

Isaac was invited to go sledding with a friend just before Thanksgiving, but I didn't let him go because of some conflict I can't remember anymore.  Then a sledding field trip posted a couple months ago and I promised him we could go.  I soon began to regret it and then dreaded it as it came closer.  The weekend was already packed.  We had Jessica's party that afternoon/evening and visitors were coming.  But we went anyway.  I promised.  And I had the realization not long ago that I can't keep saying "there's plenty of time for that" because these kids are growing up too fast.  We are running out of time and now is the time to make the memories.

So early Friday morning, relatively, we ate and dressed extra warm.  We pulled out the "Utah clothes"  meaning snow pants and gear.  We packed a few snacks and the good old purple sled into the back of the truck and drove off.  After we picked up a friend of Isaac's (Andrew Wilburn) it was only a 45 minute drive to "the meadow" on Mt. Charleston. 

We met up with lots of other families for the service part first.  A ranger met us with a bunch of trash claws and big yellow plastic bags.  We were going to pick up litter.  The ranger told us that she specifically avoided cleaning this area a few days before so the kids would have the satisfaction of making a visual difference, but then it snowed 1/2 a foot and covered it all up.  We did find some trash, but not much.  So much for the good intentions.  (pictured: Makenna found a half full, frozen water bottle and Jess is trying to pull a piece of blue tape from a tree branch.) This activity did warm us up though.  After being there for less than an hour, we all shed our coats and hats.  We tried to go without gloves, but once sledding commenced, they stayed on.

The last time Jess was on a sled was probably 2 years ago in Bountiful and she did NOT like it.  She started a little slow at first, only going part way up the hill before starting down, but she loved it.  Our sled is a two-seater.  The girls would go together, the boys (Isaac and friend) would go together, I went with one girl or the other.  Another family had a few extra disks and let us borrow one.  They all had so, so much fun.  I feel bad that I don't have more pictures of the boys, but they would start too high, I couldn't ever tell when they were about to start, and then once they got going they were too fast.  I am just REALLY glad no bones were broken.  Isaac had to go without his glasses all day, or they surely would have been smashed up.  He took some really good crashes, but always got up (sometimes slowly) to go again. 

Jess did tire of sledding after an hour or so and tried to build a snowman.   She didn't want help on her first attempt.  She built a little snow pile pal and stuck pine cones and sticks into him.  But she was discouraged to look around the meadow and see other snow people taller than she was.  She enlisted Makenna and I to help build another while the boys stayed on the hill.  The snow person was christened "Snowy." Please note the fancy hair, smiling face and necklace.  Those were the important bits.

After 4 hours, we  drove back down the mountain and home for lunch and birthday cake making. Jessica's friend party was later that afternoon.

Jessica's Package from Italy

Jess loves to check the mail.  She is always hoping to have something addressed to her, but for most of the year, she is disappointed.  This month, however, has been very good to her.  She came in brimming with excitement Friday with a little box and ran to get some scissors to open it up. It was her own package from Grandma Chris and Grandpa Don in Italy.



 

The first thing she found were Curious George books--ones we had never seen before! They were read shortly thereafter.  She especially liked the parade story. 

Then she found chocolate! She stopped everything and opened up a little egg shaped treat right then.  She bit in and found a white center.  She thought it tasted like kinder eggs! That's a very good thing in her opinion.  There were several other kinds of Italian treats that she kindly shared with the rest of us. Very yummy.

 

At the bottom, wrapped in green paper (her favorite!) were monkey pajamas.  She couldn't help but put them on right there in the kitchen over her clothes.  Later that afternoon was her long awaited friend party--with pajama attire.  Guess which pajamas she wore. But I did get her to take off the jeans underneath for the party. 











Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Jessica

Music

The kids officially have a new favorite song.  We haven't heard them singing Pink's "So What" since Christmas.  Now it's all "We all live in a yellow submarine" all day.  Man that gets stuck in your head.  Especially when they don't know the verses, only the chorus, over and over.

Brian and Kim gave us the Beatles Rock Band for Christmas and it's been a huge hit. They love the songs.  You can put it on "No fail mode" So Jess can play the drums to her heart's content.  Makenna likes singing best.  Isaac plays guitar and tries to get a turn on the drums once in a while.   Matt and I take turns at the other guitar when he's home.  We'll have to look into getting another mic because you can do harmonies now.

Side note, Jess loves singing at the top of her voice even if the lyrics aren't quite right.  Two that come to mind that she stubbornly insists are correct and just sang during dinner are

"Born in the UFC!"

and

"I'm starting with the man in the middle!"

Can you guess what the real words are?

Jess Quotes

As she is getting older, these gems are less frequent, sniff.  But here's a conversation that I captured after the moment in a text to Matt.  She said something today that reminded me.  So, I'm copying it here, hopefully for posterity.

Jess: When I am a grown-up, I will never drive a car.

Me: How will you get around? Ride your bike?

Jess: No, I'll have my husband drive me.

Me:  How will he get a job if he's always driving you around?

Jess: He won't get a job. We'll just find money.  On the ground. Oh, and I'll never kiss him because I haven't practiced kissing boys.  Only just my dad.

(It's true that Jess is amazing at finding money.  We hardly ever go to a store without her coming out with a penny in her hand.)

Isaac who was listening in: So you won't get to drive a Corvette?  (Her very favorite car)

Jess, now with a sheepish smile: Welllllll, maybe I will drive.  Someday.


I loved that whole conversation.  Today we were doing school and out of the blue she started talking about her husband, "you know, George."  I started thinking, who will be driving who?

Matt's First Weekend Off

Matt took a few half days off for Christmas Eve and Jessica's birthday and all of Christmas, but this is the first weekend he has been home since he started the City Center job.  It was a great weekend and we hope it will become a normal thing.  The job will now take him through March, but the exact hours and days are unsure--under negotiation.  But overall the demands are less daunting than before.  Being Matt though, he didn't exactly rest much (at all) this weekend.  He has been jazzing up our house bit by bit sometimes going late into the evenings, but yesterday he almost finished.  We have a house full of glowing light switches and a couple of touch screen control panels.  He has also programmed some great features.  The kids have "goodnight" buttons.  When pressed, they turn on night lights, slowly turn out the overhead lights over 15 minutes and will turn off their tape players after 45 minutes.  No more going into Isaac's room at midnight because Harry Potter is still playing though he is fast asleep!  Makenna helped him with the pantry.  Its light now turns on when the door is opened, turns off when closed or goes off after a minute if left open.  He's done lots more and keeps thinking up new additions.  And I have become brilliant at screwing and unscrewing face plates and sockets and handing the right tools--various screwdrivers, wire clippers, wire nuts and flashlights. 

The kids had a rather normal week as far as trying to get back into a school routine. The one big change is their sleeping habits.  We got into the habit of staying up late and sleeping in over the break.  It was the time to see dad.  We're slowly getting to bed at a more decent time, but the kids are not to be seen before 7:30am at the very earliest.  We didn't start school before 9 once all week.  They did well despite that and we even went swimming a couple times in the afternoons which we haven't done for 2 months.  The weather has been gorgeous and in the afternoons when we weren't swimming (inside) they were out on the street with friends.  Jess is always switching between bike and new scooter.  Makenna is primarily on her bike when not finding bugs.  Isaac has discovered my old roller-blades and is mastering them.  He has two boys in his primary class who live 2 houses away. One has a sister a year older than Makenna.  But most often she is playing with the youngest daughter of my new long distance running buddy who lives a street away.  There are also twin 5 year olds next door and many other kids close by that often congregate outside.  We are off the main loop of the neighborhood so we have almost no traffic.  Hooray for 60 degree winters!

Running in the morning is still chilly and required bundling, but it warms up pretty fast.  Yesterday the kids had their annual Pajamarama at church so my friend and I drove down, dropped off the kids, ran home and then back to church to drive home.  10.4 mile trip and the nice thing was since we started downhill, we got to run up THEN down for once.  We didn't start till after 9 and it was sunny, so it was short sleeves!

Isaac and Makenna start piano again this week (Thursday) after a long, long break.  And this weekend we are expecting Kim and two of her roommates.  Isaac has now been invited to two birthday parties (different times) and has a long overdue football party on Saturday, so that's getting full! I'm going to try and go downtown to meet Matt for lunch Tuesday.  The girls have a library class Wednesday, and there's scouts and an RS meeting.  Friday is a sledding field trip plus Jessica's friend birthday party.  And of course there is a full week of school to get done.  And I need to sew 20 rice bags for the RS training meeting next Sunday.  Ahhh, another rather normal week.  Bright light: Kim and roommates have offered to babysit one night they are here!

A Package from Colorado Springs

This is how I first saw Jess this morning. Riding her birthday scooter in her PJs. Using your tongue helps you go faster. Yes, she still loves her "sleeping cap". Forever thanks to Kim. Later in the day she took it--scooter--outside for the first time and now it has to stay in the garage.


We went swimming for the first time in at least a month after school. It's important to note the swimming to explain the hair. When we came back and checked the mail, Jess got two pieces of mail to open! First was a letter from her girl cousins in Golden, CO. She had to share since only one of the 3 letters inside was addressed to her. But there was also a birthday box.

The first thing she opened had little pants inside. Can you see the delight sparkle in those eyes? She wanted to run and get George, but the lure of another package to open. . . .

A George book! Good thing she stayed. She will read it to him for bed tonight.

There was a monkey coloring craft kit. This has truly been the year of monkeys.

George is so sweet in his new clothes. And notice her new headband too. Fits great! Both girls were impressed and want to see if they can make some too.

Santa Display

Just before taking down Christmas (January 2nd) I snapped a couple pictures. Thanks to mom and several of her siblings for the piece of furniture. It was the perfect spot for all the Santas we have collected. And thanks to Grandma Chris for the most beautiful runner that doesn't show up very well in this light. Our house looked quite festive, which means it is all the more sad that it is now all put away.

Jessica is 6!

It is official. She has been practicing being six for awhile now, writing it in conjunction with 5 on all her school work and water bottles. "Jessica 5 6." But now it's just Jessica 6 or J 6 or sometimes Jessica Martin 6.

Her birthday started a little late in the morning, for which I was grateful. I didn't think they would make it, but the kids stayed up till midnight. Matt zonked out around 10 after far too many late nights and early mornings. (He has been getting up before 6 and working 12+ hour days since before Thanksgiving, but recently he has been staying up extra at home changing out all our light switches room by room. I have been helping when I can holding the flashlight in the dark and running back and forth from the power box to throw switches. He is more than 1/2 done with the house and has done some really cool stuff, but more on that later.) In order to let Matt sleep and keep the kids relatively quiet, I put on a movie. Isaac is always suspicious when I pick, "not another musical!" But this time, they all found a new favorite. I put on Better Off Dead and just skipped one scene. They were all close to tears a few times laughing so hard and they have been quoting it ever since. It ended right at midnight so we watched the firework display from the strip on the local news. Wow. I would say it would be neat to watch it in person, but driving away afterward would be nigh unto impossible. So we watched the fireworks on TV, sang Happy Birthday to Jessica and sent them to bed. By 1:30 I was done decorating and was in bed by 2.


Jess came down on New Years to find lots of balloons all over in groups of 6 and her own George mask to wear. She wore it solid until breakfast (around 10am!!) and found she couldn't eat. She had Pillsbury Cinnamon and Orange Rolls for breakfast (despite Isaac campaigning hard to change her mind to homemade.) And for her fun activity, she wanted to go rollerskating.

This time Matt got to come too. I think he acclamated to skates a lot faster than me, despite the fact that it has probably been longer since he wore them.

The girls both took turns skating with their dad.

Jess started out doing lots of laps on the carpet, but advanced to the floor with much more confidence.

When I skated with her, she didn't want to hold hands--I can do it myself! Mom's hand makes you feel too young, but you are never too old for daddy's.

Makenna and Isaac were better too. They started working on speed, not just staying vertical.

Jess wanted to go to "the Burnt Olives" for dinner. That means the Olive Garden. We couldn't figure out why really because she wanted chicken nuggets. That was until she put away 4!! bread-sticks before her dinner came. She loves their bread-sticks. Hmm. During the first 30 minutes we were there, someone else was sung the birthday song. She thought it was neat that someone else had the same birthday and her eyes lit up with the possibility of them singing to her. Sure enough, after the dinner dishes were cleared away, a bunch of singing waiters came and gave her a cake with a candle and she was all smiles. She cut it up to share herself and loved it! But before we left, 2 other people got sung to. The last time she had a look of utter disgust. She didn't want to share with THAT many people.

Back at home she opened presents.

Her own scooter! It immediately was put through its paces around the kitchen and hall.

She also got some monkey washcloths and a "Junior George". This is what she told me yesterday. "George and me got married and we had a baby. Of course it was a monkey. We named it Junior George. So now I'm a mom and you are the grandma!"

Riding her scooter with a group of 6 balloons. Notice Junior George in her pocket. She tried riding with her mask on too, but crashed.