Repentant

I was chastised today since I never blog. I was reminded that I will feel bad years down the road when I don't have any written record of these days of my life. It's true. I've been journal keeper my whole life, but the last six or so years have gotten increasingly busy and I find myself torn so many different ways that I have let my journal writing fall to the wayside a bit. So with that gentle chastisement, I have repented and will write an epistle which should sum up my last week or so.

Thanksgiving, to begin with. My brother Mark from Seattle came into town on Wednesday afternoon. I went over there in the evening to hang out and visit with him and whomever else was there. As I came in the front door, I could hear the loud sounds of music in the basement. I hurried out of my shoes, practically ran downstairs and grabbed a microphone. My brother Kurt has an awesome professional karaoke setup and when we're together we do a lot of singing. We had a lot of fun that evening rocking out to songs old and new. We have quite an eclectic selection. We did some Queen songs, some oldies, some hard rock, and we dabbled in the show tunes. We all left that evening with cracking voices and big smiles. Dix stayed home with the kids to get a little sleep because he had been up most of the night before.

On Thursday I was only in charge of the sweet potatoes. We are not the type of family that appreciates anything foreign on our sweet spuds. It's just cream, butter and salt. Yummmmmmmm. All of you people who put brown sugar and marshmallows on your sweet potatoes are really missing out! My sister Carolyn and her family were with her husbands family for the day, so we decided to make our big pie eating celebration on Saturday. We only had minimal pies on Thanksgiving. It was all delicious and we had a lot of fun (although we missed having the Nadeaus with us!). After eating we sang again. It's really fun to watch the kids do karaoke. Regan sang several Christmas songs, plus two songs from the Sound of Music and I think some from Annie. Turner sang his usual, Living on a Prayer, while Cooper sang only Happy Birthday, the only song that we have on karaoke that he knows. Although he's getting pretty good on Bohemian Rhapsody. Speaking of that, that is our theme song. We do it every time. And we're getting dang good at it, too.

Friday morning Hayden and I got up well before the crack of dawn and went shopping. We hit Target just before 5, then went to Fred Meyer, JCPenney and Big 5. Then back to Fred Meyer to get the stuff that we forgot, then finally home. Hayden couldn't believe how many people were out shopping that early. It was hilarious. As we were driving from our home to the shopping area, he kept commenting about how nobody else was out. I kept telling him, just wait.... And then when we got to the Target parking lot, it was fuller than he had ever seen it and the line to enter the store wrapped clear around the building. He started laughing so hard because he was so stunned! We saw the Shoops and the Falters while we were there. I was too late for one of the items on my list, but got great deals on a few things that I have really wanted, so it was well worth it. Hayden had swim team practice that morning and then that afternoon Dix and the big boys went to the Seattle Temple to do baptisms. We didn't do any karaoke that evening.

On Saturday morning Hayden was up bright and early to go running. He ran 6 1/2 miles with a friend, then had time to eat and change and I took him to the pool for his two hour practice. What a beast. On Saturday we had our pie day. We had lots of interesting pies. My brothers pride themselves on being "pie-entists." Creating new, unusual and delicious pies. Hopefully I'll remember them all. Dale brought four: Schadenfreude pie, Purple sweet potato, Carrot (used a pumpkin pie recipe, but substituted carrots for pumpkin), and Hibiscus (original creation). I brought a pecan. Mom made a triple chocolate chunk pecan, Costco made a pumpkin and a strawberry cheesecake, and Mark made key lime. I had a piece of each. Seriously.

Sunday was just normal. Which for us entails sleeping in as late as possible, leaving about 10:30 for 11 am church so we could be early because Hayden prepares the sacrament. Our ward was split. We have been the hosts for the Spanish speaking members of the area. They created their own branch on Sunday which will still be connected with our ward. Their youth and primary kids will still attend our meetings and then they will have their own Spanish speaking Sacrament meeting. I was a little emotional about it. The new branch president called was Brother Thurgood. A longtime friend was called as his first counselor. When I heard his name, I completely lost it. I have known and loved the Zeledon family for ten years, since before Noah and Porter did Joy School together. Kris and I were VT companions for years, Dix was the hometeacher for years. It was a huge blessing to us to see how far Ernesto has come and to see him get sustained for his new calling. It was an amazing meeting.

Monday started off early and cold. I drove the carpool to Seminary and then Jennifer and I ran about three miles while the kids were in the warm church. But by the end of our run we had shed our coats and gloves. I hurried home, got Landon and Regan each to practice their violins before school, and then got them off to school. Porter's school is the latest, not starting until 9:20. Dix dropped him off while I started the Monday ritual: laundry and cleaning. I do laundry all day until 2 pm and then I fold madly for an hour and get everything put away. Then I grabbed my two little boys and my piano bag and headed down the street to moms. I taught three piano lessons which all went really well. We are preparing for a Christmas recital in a couple weeks. Regan and Landon walked straight to Grandma and Grandpas, and Grandpa watched Cooper while the rest of the kids did their thing. I finished at 5, and got home to find Hayden practicing his violin. Dix and Porter arrived home at 5:40 and we ate our delicious dinner of crockpot lentils (don't knock it until you've tried it!). We had a very long FHE lesson by Landon and about half an hour of singing led by all of the kids. Cooper loves to sing, and we couldn't resist when he kept asking for more songs. We went through them all! Then reading and bed. I'm reading "Mountain Born" to Regan right now, Landon is reading the Eragon series, Porter is reading A Wrinkle In Time, and Dix reads about a dozen picture books to the little boys. Hayden is reading "A Tale of Two Cities." Not for pleasure, mind you.

Tuesday started much the same way, only without the run. Hayden was out the door at 5:45 and I hit the sheets for another hour of shut eye. Then up at 7 for practicing before school. Kids were off the same as usual. I had a few phone errands to take care of, did more cleaning, and somehow was busy through the whole day. The kids played outside for the afternoon. Dix and I did some yard work. Hayden got home from swim team at 4:40. Dix had his evening class, so I had to pick Port up from wrestling practice at 5:30, run home to grab Regan and Turner for swim lessons. Meanwhile, Landon got ready for Cub Scouts and ran down with Kyle and Tyler to Grandma and Grandpa's (they are Cub Scout leaders) to get a ride to the church. Cooper stayed home with Hayden and Porter. The kids love their swim lessons.

Wednesday: Another day of running, practicing, getting kids off to school. I don't remember what I did during the day. Maybe that was the day I found an hour or so to read. Aaahhhh, relaxing. During the day I read a lot to the little boys, they do puzzles, they play with animals or little people, they color and draw a little (Turner on paper, Cooper on whatever he feels like). I had two more piano lessons after school, plus I taught Regan and Turner that day. Turner is catching on really quickly. He's only four, so I'm not teaching him to read music, just to play by ear. He's playing "Jolly Old St Nicholas" for the Christmas recital. He'll be so cute! I had put a roast in the crockpot, so after my lessons I hurried home and we set the table and ate. Dix and the big boys had scouts that night, so I took the four little kids over to the elementary school for Community Access night. They were making graham cracker houses and my kids were so excited for it. It was fun, and they were all full of sugar when we came home. Soon after I got home, my Presidency showed up and we had a two hour meeting, trying to plan for the new year. It was very productive and I have to say, I love each of the ladies I work with (even if they don't all make it through this post to this point!). Dix got home from scouts and retreated to his cave to work on his final project for school, while the kids stayed up and finished homework and played until way past their bedtimes. But they were really tired by bedtime so they went to sleep without any fuss!

Thursday morning was to be super busy and we were all tired from staying up too late. Hayden got off to Seminary at his usual time, then I crashed for another two hours. I woke the kids up just in time to get to school without practicing. The boys and I went to Grandma and Grandpas for my 9:30 am piano lesson. Then we visited for a little while because I was tired and lazy and didn't want to go back out in the cold (did I mention it's about 20 degrees colder than usual?). Grandpa's regular lunch date cancelled on him, so he asked me if we would like to go get a burger. We went to Burger King and the boys were thrilled to get burgers, fries and a soda! They're so deprived! :) I think the last time they had fast food was when Grandma Hoho was visiting last summer! Anyway, they were tickled with it and had a good time. Grandpa got them each a crown. Cooper ripped his right away, but then he started putting the little standup menus from the table on his head saying, "Crown?" Then he would go to the next table and do the same thing. Funny boy! The day flew by. I picked Landon and Regan up from school ten minutes early so we could make it to Hayden's swim meet on time. We drove up to Lakewood, to Lakes High School. We wandered around for awhile and found a nice, gangsta looking kid who guided us around to the pool (through the girls locker room). Turns out the meet was at Clover Park, not at Lakes, so we drove there, missing the first half of the meet (and Hayden's first two events). I tried to stay positive though. The kids behaved perfectly while we were there. Two funny things. There was an old lady with really skinny old lady hands sitting right behind us. They were really veiny and tendony. Turner asked her, "What's wrong with your hands?" Luckily she was a very sweet old lady who really loved children. She laughed and told him that when you get old, your hands do that. Regan said to me, "Mom, you know that thing that boys pee out of?" Yeah. "Well, I can see the bump of it under their swimsuits and IT'S GROSS!" I laughed really hard over that one. I told her to please, just look at their faces. Hayden did well at the meet and we left after his last event. We arrived back just in time for swim lessons, so we ran in, changed in the locker room and Turner and Regan ran in a couple minutes late. Meanwhile, Dix stayed home until Porter got home from wrestling and then left for school. I got the kids to bed and CRASHED.

There was no school Friday, so we got to sleep in a bit. I went running at 7 instead of 6. Dix had to leave about 7, and Hayden had to be at the pool at 8. He got a ride, and Porter babysat until I got home. Instead of swimming, Hayden, one of his coaches and several other swimmers went up to Federal Way to watch the Nationals swim meet. He enjoyed it and got home in the afternoon. I took the rest of the kids to the library. We got about 50 books. Crazy. But we'll read them all. The kids played outside a lot that day. The Deacons were having a campout but since it's so cold, they had a camp-in, in our basement. They had fun. It's good for Porter to be one on one with his peers. He acts normal when it's just one kid, then it's easier for him when he's in a group with that same kid. Hayden went to hang out with some friends and went to a movie.

Saturday after Noah went home from the camp in, we got dressed nice and warm and went to a local farm to get our Christmas tree. We had a good time. The kids enjoyed seeing Santa and got to pet a bunch of animals. That was the highlight for Cooper. He keeps reminding us of it. "Goat. Feed it." That night was the night Regan has been waiting for for months. She got to see Marilyn. She was so very, very excited to see her B.F. never ending F (that's what she keeps calling her--short for best friend). They got to play for a few hours, then they got to go to Black Hills Gymnastics for open gym for three hours (Marily had free passes). Regan was so tired when we picked them up at 10. She fell asleep with no problems.

When I got to church this morning, I looked in my binder to see what my primary responsibility was. I'm usually conducting on the first Sunday. To my surprise I saw that I had sharing time. I threw something together. It wasn't great, but I followed the theme and it was okay. I was relieved when it was over. We had a couple of kid misbehave today so it was hard. Our Sacrament meeting seemed so empty without our Spanish speaking members there! After church we read and played and wrapped presents. We had our traditional breakfast for dinner, then just kind of relaxed. This next week is Dixon's last week of school for the term, so hopefully he'll make it through. It's supposed to be REALLY cold this week. Like single digits. Brrr. I'm sure I'll be chilly at 6 am running tomorrow! Hope I live to tell!