Week #3: Robotics: On To State!

This Week...

...it wasn't the snow fall that caused snow days. It was the freezing rain and ice. The kids had Monday off because of Martin Luther King day. They went to school Tuesday. Then they had Wednesday and Thursday off because of the hazardous conditions. The alternating a activities continued...piano practice, personal reading time, me reading Charlie Bone out loud, puzzles, Minecraft on the Wii U, chores, playing with Marty outside, playing with the neighbors outside, watching A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix, board games, baking, and whatever else we could think of. They even tried to eat the ice chunks (which I strongly advised them against, but they wouldn't listen).

It warmed up to 40 degrees and the kids thought they didn't need their coats anymore. They had a whole snowball fight with the neighbor kids without their coats on.

We had an ice rink in the back for a little while. The snow on the grass was all broken up because it had a nice crusty top layer.

...we watched the Inauguration of the 45th President of the United States, who also happens to be Donald Trump. It was a great ceremony in the sense that we were watching the making of history. I felt a great sense of patriotism as we watched the event. I loved seeing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the seats and hearing their beautiful rendition of America the Beautiful. They had a lot of prayers as part of the program. I appreciated them for their petition of God's continued favor on our nation. For him or against him, it is the making of history that Trump won. What a crazy election! We will continue to take comfort in the counsel of our Prophet, President Monson, that the future is as bright as our faith. We will continue to find and support the good in the years to come.

...we went to Spokane for Paul's State Robotics Competition. We stayed in a hotel Friday night and then watched him on Saturday. Cherice and Shelly came with us. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express because they had a hot breakfast included. We weren't too thrilled with it though - no pool (which really wasn't that bad in my book), no movie rental channel, no sound insulation in the floors (we got a noise complaint that we were running too much. And we were! We had five kids!)
    However, it was still nice to get away and relax. We ordered pizza from a local place called Pizza Rita. It was very good. I loved the crust! We watched the coverage of the Inaugural balls on Fox News because it was the only thing on. We couldn't stomach CNN or MSNBC News. Those commentators were so mad about Trump winning that they didn't even try to hide the sarcasm and disdain from their voices. 

We found a face in the snow at the hotel thanks to someone's boot track. It looks like a monkey face.

I stubbed my toe really bad on the stack of books by my bedside before we left for Spokane. Not the best time to do it when we had a weekend of walking ahead of us. It only got worse as the day day went on. It hurt so bad and turned all shades of purple.

Benjamin came prepared. This was his stash that he pulled out of his backpack. I don't know that he actually used any of it because the excitement of being in a hotel was so great.

...we took cookies to our piano teacher. Sister Hall ended up in the hospital because of a fungal mass in the back of her sinus cavity that was causing all sorts of trouble. It was causing a blood clot as well that, thankfully, didn't have any serious consequences. We were so alarmed to hear that she'd been in the hospital and we wanted to stop by with some treats and cheer. We have come to love her so much and we appreciate her talent in teaching the kids piano. Claire drew this awesome picture of a piano and Emma made her world famous Chocolate Crinkle Cookies.

...we had dinner with the Hermanas from the Spanish Ward. Hermana Wade and Hermana Shuman were so fun to have. It was definitely different than Elders.

...we found out what Emma would look like with a beard. Hmm! Interesting look for her.

Week #2: Snow Days

This Week...

...we had a few snow days. The snow just wouldn't shut off! It seemed like endless shoveling for days, and it was even shoveling several times a day so that it didn't get too deep. 2017 really broke some records on snow fall, let me tell you. The kids enjoyed playing in it, and luckily we had gear for everyone. I didn't have to rush out for boots or snow pants. We've alternated chores, games, puzzles, TV and Wii U time to keep them occupied during these snow days

The kids scooped some of the snow into a pile in the back yard so they could play. Marty thought it was great fun.

The snow was piling up fast in the backyard. It was decreasing the height of the basketball hoop. I could totally dunk that now!

The roads and parking lots all looked like this. It was a mess! I tried to stay home for the most part, but we still had to brave up and venture out a couple times. 

Once the main roads were plowed, it wasn't so bad. And once the side roads were plowed too, it was perfect.

...Jason had his toe nail taken off at the doctor's today. He stubbed it pretty bad a year ago and then a fungus grew under the damaged nail. It has never gotten better. So he had it removed. He's on strict instructions to keep the toe dry, but in an open toed shoe. That may prove to be difficult with all this snow on the ground. He has to regularly soak his feet in an Epsom salt bath. It didn't feel too good the first time he did it.

...we started operation raise funds for the Schouviller's car insurance. Saturday we posted these boxes on Facebook with a little background on what we wanted to do. People were touched by how much they've lost recently (job, house, car) and by the fact that Candace would be coming to help us paint the boxes. I called this plain white box the Candace in honor of this fund raiser. Within an hour of posting, we had met our goal of selling 16. It was so awesome as each person messaged me online to purchase one or two at a time. I finally deleted the post because people kept commenting and ordering. We needed to make a total of 22. 

I also invited my friend Nicole when Candace came to paint boxes so that we could have a good time socializing while we worked. we were able to get all of them painted, distressed, and with handles in about three hours. 

Week #1: A New Word For The New Year

This Week...

...this year my word is thirst. Physically, I've been needing more water in my life for a long time now. This is the year it's going to happen. I have a new water bottle that I will keep filled throughout the day. Hopefully, I can drain some water each day for better health. Spiritually, I've been in need of a jump start to get back in the daily scripture/prayer/journal routine. This scripture from the Book of Mormon is my motto: "And blessed are all they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost. (3 Ne 12:6)" I have missed writing in my journal at church and when I read the scriptures. That was my way of applying what I read and heard. I have missed dedicated time each day to be filled by the word of God in the scriptures and to reflect on how I found Him each day in my journal, not to mention taking time to talk with Him on a daily basis and not getting too rushed along with the rush. I've been back at it, performing these all important dailies, this first week of the year and it's absolute heaven. I didn't realize how much my soul missed these simple things and how much they fill me with the Holy Ghost. Here's to a year of thirsting!

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...my mom and dad came for a visit. Even though we got dumped on with snow and the roads weren't the best, they braved the trip to town to take us out to McDonald's. It was great to talk and laugh with them. 

...we took the kids to a movie on $5 Tuesday at the theater. We watched Sing. It was a good one to take the kids to. It's an anthropomorphic movie where a theater owner tries to run a singing competition to save his theater. Then we went and got five buck chicken baskets at Dairy Queen with the gift cards that the kids got for Christmas. It was a perfect outing!

...the kids went back to school. Christmas break is over, yo! The temperatures were super low the day before they went back which got us a two hour delay. That was nice for all of us as we tried to get back into a routine. ;) 

Spring seems so far off...

...we celebrated Paul's birthday! He is 11! He's no longer a Cub Scout. He gets to go to 11 year old scouts. He's super excited about this. I admit that I'm excited to help him work on his requirements. Paul's birthday was the start of a storm that hit over the weekend and dumped a ton of snow. We decided to cancel the family birthday party and just celebrated on our own. Paul wasn't too upset. He started the day off with his birthday cereal-Cinnamon Toast Crunch- and finished with his presents. 

A couple of our shoveling helpers