24 December 2017

 This is always one of the most hectic weeks of the year, and I love it!  Monday night I had the opportunity to go out with a couple of my lovely friends.  We had dinner at Little Anthony’s in Tucson and then got to see “Christmas on Broadway” at the Gaslight Theater.  It was such a great time!

 The two younger kids had spirit week with a different theme each day (I kinda hate those things, especially this time of year).  Helen was really excited to have me do her hair for crazy hair day, even though she could have worn any one of the dozen of crazy hats I’ve crocheted.  Her hair actually turned out pretty cute and it was still up when she got off the bus in the afternoon.  Arlo looked at me like I should do something with his hair, and I told him to go find a hat! 

 Tuesday morning I dropped the kids off at school and then went into Tucson to get my dad’s tire fixed.  Felicity had an assembly in the morning as well, where she received a certificate for high honor roll.  I’m so proud of how hard she works and how diligent she is at her school work.

 Wednesday afternoon I decorated the last of my cut out cookies and then in the evening we had Felicity’s first band concert.  I was VERY impressed with the Corona music program.  We got to enjoy two Jazz bands, a symphonic band, and the 6^th grade band.  All of them were exceptional.  You can really tell the difference that having band class everyday makes.  The concert was the culmination of a lot of hard work and I know Felicity is looking forward to a well-deserved two week break; she did band, soccer, ELP (extended learning program), and made the honor roll this quarter.  The other two kids worked really hard as well.  Helen’s report card was great and Arlo came home with an unprecedented three “4s” on his report card.  I guess he makes up for being a pain sometimes by being smart!

 With all the cookies finished and decorated we were able to put together the plates of goodies for our friends and family.  I had planned on doing 12 plates, but had enough cookies for 20 plates of treats.  Once all the cookies were plated and wrapped, we went out to deliver them.  The kids had a blast knocking on everyone’s doors and wishing them a Merry Christmas.  We especially enjoyed taking them to some of new neighbors.  Thursday was also my last day of work for the year and it felt so good to know that I’ll be off for a couple of weeks.

 Friday was the kids’ last day of school and they had a half day.  Once they got off the bus we went with Nana over to Grandma Lo’s to take her out to lunch for her 91^st birthday.  We went to Longhorn Steak House and had such a wonderful meal.  I had some shrimp that was so delicious.  Helen and Arlo split an adult portion of ribs and Arlo finished his, Helen had a few to take home.  It was so nice to spend time with Grandma and Nana.  When we were done we took Grandma home and then we went with Nana to the movie theater to see Ferdinand.  It was a really cute movie, we enjoyed it.

 We did some cleaning on Saturday as well as pick some clothes and toys to donate in preparation for Christmas.  I also finished up the last of my homemade gifts and then the arduous task of wrapping everything.   

 We had Sacrament meeting on Sunday afternoon with a lovely Christmas program and when that was over, we went to pick up Grandma Lo and go over to Nana’s for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and opening gifts.  Unfortunately, my dad has been sick for several weeks and was not feeling up to the festivities, he was missed.  We had a wonderful dinner, enjoyed Grandma’s company, watched a Christmas movie together and then opened presents.  As usual, the kids got a lot of really wonderful things from my parents; the girls even got new bikes which they were ecstatic about.  We came home around 8 and the kids stayed up for another couple of hours playing with some of their new toys.  They were very excited to see what would be under the tree in the morning.  Merry Christmas all!

17 December 2017

The holiday hustle and bustle continued this week at Two Jack Ranch.  I feel like I have most of my Christmas shopping done and just need to finish up a few last minute projects and gifts.  One of the things that I needed to finish this week was sewing the kids’ new pajamas, they came together pretty quickly in an evening and I hope that they like them this year.  

 On Monday I got a call from the school that Helen wasn’t feeling well, so I left work and picked her up.  She created a little make-shift couch out of cushions and pillows and entertained herself by watching a movie while I picked up work in my home office.  She seemed to be just fine by the time the other two kids got home from school.

 We enjoyed a Christmas movie for Family Home Evening and one pretty much every available night this week.  It was nice to watch some of our favorites. On Wednesday morning I took Felicity to her second orthodontist appointment in Tucson.  Her teeth are looking great and now that she has lost all of her baby teeth, the new adult teeth they were holding a spot for are almost all the way in and they will tie them in with the rest on our next visit.  She picked red and green rubber bands to be festive.  The hygienist said that she is taking really good care of them and can tell she’s been diligent at brushing and flossing.  Phew!  We don’t need any more dentist appointments this year!

 Tuesday the kids were playing in the back yard and when I peeked out to quickly check on them discovered that they had created a mud hole and were playing in it.  I told them that was fine, but that I was going to hose them off before they could come in.  I’m sure it was all fun and games until I made good on my promise/threat and made them spray off in the cold hose water.  Speaking of cold, I finally broke down and turned the heater on to find that it wasn’t working.  It only blows cold air.  So we built some fires in the fireplace this week to keep toasty in the chilly evenings.

 Arlo had his kindergarten performance on Thursday night and he was very excited.  He got to dress up as an elf.  The performance, “The Elves’ Impersonator”, was really cute and Arlo did a great job of singing and dancing.  

The kitties were outside on Thursday afternoon and I didn’t bring them in when we left for Arlo’s performance, they didn’t come back up when we got home either.  Sadly, Jack Sparrow didn’t come up with his sister in the morning.  The kids and I were very disappointed, but the kids knew it was a possibility so they have handled it fairly well.  I think for the next few months I will make sure Pepper is in before dark…of course if the silly cats stayed in the fence, they’d be perfectly safe!

 On Friday afternoon Arlo came home from school and helped me decorate gingerbread cookies for our candy baskets.  In the evening they went to visit their dad and I worked on a few more homemade gifts that needed to be completed.  Saturday I spent pretty much the entire day in my kitchen trying to get all the baking done for the candy baskets. I finally was able to make the illusive perfect batch of fudge, this almost never happens for me, although my first batch was grainy.   This year I made banana bread, cut out cookies, gingerbread men, jam sandwich cookies, fudge, haystacks, Hawaiian moon drops, angel sweets, chocolate pretzel buttons, white chocolate dipped Oreos, and peanut butter reindeer.  I over did it!

Saturday evening I went into Tucson and took my grandma out to dinner at Olive Garden and we had a really nice time.  My Sunday was very quiet and the kids and I enjoyed a Christmas movie when I got them home from their dad’s.  One more week of school and one more week until Christmas!

10 December 2017

Monday we had our 10^th Annual Gingerbread Family Home Evening and my house was full!  This year I invited the girls from my monthly “girls’ night” and their families.  My kids really enjoyed making new friends!  After our potluck dinner we gathered for a quick Family Home Evening lesson on the symbols of Christmas and then it was decorating time.  There were 16 kids working on houses and I think it went fairly well.  I’m sure grateful for my over-sized kitchen!  I did miss caroling this year as we didn’t do that, but it was fun to share a favorite tradition with some awesome ladies that I’ve gotten to know over the last year or so.  My mom also came and brought my niece and I think she had a good time too.  The kids helped me clean up when it was over and it wasn’t too big of a mess when all was said and done. 

The kids have testing this week and next at school, so their homework load has been significantly decreased, this meant we were able to spend more time doing fun things in the evenings.  We dug some games out from the closet and played together during the week and had a really fun time.  We also pulled all of our Christmas movies off the shelves and watched a couple of those. 

Felicity had her last soccer game on Wednesday.  She had a lot of fun and learned a lot and is looking forward to playing on a community league after the break and then again next fall at school.  I’m proud of her for trying new things and working so hard.

I did some more baking this week and also worked on my Christmas cards.  This year I used a digital caricature of our family for the card in hopes of making it more simple, but I still managed to turn it into a major project ( I have a talent for that)!  I did, however, get those formatted, cut, and put together and mailed this week. 

Arlo and I went into town after I picked him up from the bus stop on Friday.  I was out looking for envelopes for my Christmas cards as I was 10 or so short.  We went to two or three different stores with no luck, so I just gave up and bought a box of cheap Christmas cards at Target that had envelopes that were the right size and will use those envelopes.  Seriously, I even went to Office Max and they didn’t have (non-jumbo) greeting card sized envelopes!  

When we were done we met Nana at Red Lobster for a special birthday lunch.  Arlo had a whole plate of shrimp that he devoured and they even brought him a sundae and sang to him.  It was a good start to his birthday weekend.  I picked the girls up from the bus and did our grocery shopping while Arlo stayed with Nana to go shopping for his birthday.  He picked out a Star Wars Lego set and some jeans with a Christmas sweater that he is completely enamored with. 

Saturday was Arlo’s big day, his 6^th birthday.  I can hardly believe he is six, but then again, it seems like he’s always been part of our family.   

 He was up early and ready for presents and birthday cinnamon rolls Saturday morning.  He got a Lego set, a new hat, and Cars 3 on DVD from the Sisters and I. 

For the rest of the morning the kids played with the new Legos and I finished up the last of the weekend chores and then we headed to the Phoenix Zoo, stopping for lunch at In N Out on the way.  We were there for several hours until it closed and enjoyed the animals and the nice weather. 

After the zoo we went to Organ Stop Pizza, our favorite, in Mesa.  We had pizza and enjoyed the organ music and the organist even announced Arlo’s birthday and played for him.  We spent a couple of hours there and then went over to the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights.

They were spectacular, as expected, and the kids and I had a really nice time.  When we got back home I went to bed, but the kids stayed up playing with Arlo’s new toys and watching his new movie.  Around midnight, they woke me up with some riotous laughter and I sent them on to bed.

We enjoyed our Sunday meetings and Arlo was excited to wear his new Christmas sweater.  We had tithing settlement when we were done and then headed home and watched The Christmas Story after dinner and baths. 

I still feel like I have a lot to get done before Christmas and there’s still a lot of activities to do as well…and of course, I’m out of time off!  As busy as it is, I love this time of year and enjoying traditions with the kids.  I’m also excited to see what the New Year will bring.

03 December 2017

It was another busy week for our family.  Soccer again on Monday, Felicity’s team did so well, they’re really learning to play together and I’ve enjoyed watching Felicity’s confidence increase over the past few weeks.  I signed all three kids up to play soccer during the winter season since Felicity doesn’t have an interest in playing basketball at school next quarter and the other two kids are wanting to try soccer.  I’m not sure how I’m going to juggle that, but we will make it work.  Hopefully they’ll have similar practice schedules and it won’t be too difficult. 

Wednesday was a little crazy.  My Scholastic order came in and since I had purchased quite a few books, I went to pick them and Arlo up from school so that he didn’t have to try and bring them home in his backpack on the bus.  Felicity stayed after school for some help with a Language Arts project and so I had to pick her up from school when she was done and drive her to her soccer game.  Helen had choir practice, so my mom was able to pick her up when it was done and they got to go out to dinner together.  The soccer game was great and when it was done Felicity and Arlo and I went and had dinner and custard at Freddy’s as they were hosting a fundraiser for Corona Foothills Middle School.  Helen came home from Nana’s after dinner and we were able to all read together before bed.

Our kittens are growing and getting into all kinds of trouble.  I have started putting them out in the morning and encouraging them to be outside most of the day; they seem to really enjoy that.  Our chickens are also doing well, although it has become apparent that I have a rooster in my flock.  Luckily he’ll just add to the choir of rooster crows first thing in the morning, so I’m not too worried about it.  You may recall a few weeks ago I mentioned that I was breeding darkling beetles as a way to provide mealworms for my birds.  We are off to a great start and have seen a large number of the initial larva complete their life cycle into beetles.  I still have quite a few that are in-between in the pupae stage and maybe 25% that still haven’t pupated.  My plan is to allow this entire first batch to complete its life cycle into beetles and then harvest subsequent generations for chicken consumption.  I will probably pull aside 10% each cycle to accommodate for mortality and keep the process going.  The nice thing is it’s extremely low maintenance, no mess or smell, and fits compactly in a self-contained storage bin system.  I did move them into the coat closet as they pupate faster in dark warm environments.  I’ll move them back out to the barn once it gets warm again.

Thursday night Helen had her first choir concert.  It was combined between Sycamore Elementary and Copper Ridge Elementary and included the orchestra, band, and choir.  Helen was so excited to perform.  They held the concert at Empire High School and my only complaint was that in order to promote simplicity they had all the performers on stage at once and so it was hard to see the choir with the band and orchestra in front of them.  In fact, I wasn’t able to actually see Helen the entire time.  The choir was very good and Felicity and Arlo and I enjoyed the concert.  We stopped for ice cream on our way home.

Friday morning Arlo and I went grocery shopping and to lunch when he was done with school at 11.  I am really enjoying spending time with him on Fridays.  I have started getting things together for my annual gingerbread house FHE and Arlo helped me with the shopping and also with getting all the lights and decorations out so that I was able to tackle that project this weekend. 

We had our third appointment to have photos done on Friday night and I had also made plans to take my mom out for her birthday.  When the girls got home from school I had Helen and Arlo get cleaned up and dressed for pictures (Felicity got a pass since I got a good photo of her last week) and then my mom came over to head into town with us.  The pictures went so well. Helen and Arlo did fabulously, I wish it had gone this smoothly last week!  While we were doing pictures my mom got a phone call that my dad was headed to the hospital.  He has been ill for a few weeks and wasn’t improving so he decided to go to St. Joseph’s.  My mom headed to the hospital and I dropped the kids off at their dad’s house for their weekend visit. 

I cleaned on Saturday and then went to Home Depot to get our 2017 Christmas Tree!  I love a fresh Christmas tree.  I also love decorating for Christmas, but there are a couple of things I HATE about it. The first is getting the tree in the tree stand.  It’s a pain with two people, its beyond a pain alone.  I did, however manage to get the tree in the stand and respectably straight.  Next is the task of hanging the lights, specifically having to get on the roof to hang the lights.  I’m afraid of heights and I have no idea why, but it makes me a wreck.  I love Christmas lights more than I’m afraid of heights so I ventured on to the roof where I mostly crawled from place to place on my hands and knees and white-knuckled every light hanging moment with plenty of sweating, heavy breathing, and “you can do this” self-talk. We had left permanent nails in the eves for the lights at the old home and since the exterior of our new house is a material called cement board that wasn’t going to be possible.  I actually bought a lot of binder clips and used those to attach the lights to the eves and it worked amazingly.    I’m not going to lie, I’m kinda hoping that because they’re attached with binder clips I can tug on the end to pull them down come January and not have to get back on the ladder!

My Sunday was quiet. I was up early and prepared my Sunday School lesson and did the final prep work for Monday’s FHE.  My church meetings went really well.  I have tithing settlement next weekend and I intend to let the bishop know that I want to have our records moved to our home ward, the ward that serves the area where we live.  I feel like it’s what is best for the kids and me even though I have made many friends in our current ward in the short time that we’ve been there.  We received more service from this ward than any other and I’ve been so grateful for the experience.  

When the kids got home, we decorated the Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music.  We had a lot of fun and had to be choosy about which ornaments we put on the tree since we almost have too many!  We have lots of activities as the year winds down and I’m looking forward to all of it!