Lost voice and lost teeth

Last Monday was freezing again.  I know I keep saying it but it is true.  We never made it above freezing all week.  The little kids who usually come didn't because their mom didn't want to bring them down in the cold.  It was below zero when I took these guys to school.  Lauren did end up going.  She got a blessing Sunday night and didn't have a fever in the morning....but she didn't feel 100 percent.  We just worked on homework in the afternoon. Jared had to fill out an outline for his Australia animal report that he is working on at school.  He picked the frilled neck lizard.  There's not much out there that we found on those crazy guys, but enough for a first grader. We watched a video of one running on hind legs and laughed our heads off. Then realized how crazy they really are and that they are between 2 1/2 and 3 feet tall.

Tuesday Bradley had preschool and Jared finished his outline.  Beside that it was just a normal day...and I guess that is pretty normal.

Wednesday Bradley and Connor and I went to the library and picked Lauren up on the way home. We just picked up around here. Lauren wasn't feeling well...she took a long nap in the afternoon.

Thursday Lauren and Jared had early release.  Lauren took another nap in the afternoon and we just relaxed after getting homework done. Jared came home from school not feeling well and his breathing was constricted. They got to watch cars in the evening.

A little pair of boots I crocheted.  I made these ones and a bigger pair.  We gave these ones away.  Jared assured me he would love something with a black glittery button...and picked it (I would have picked blue) and then once it was sewed on he said it was too girly....The bigger ones for Connor are getting blue.

Friday morning they both said that they felt well enough to go to school.  I went and helped in Jared's class and Bradley and Connor went to a friend's...different than normal since the normal ones called that morning and said they were sick. They were all feeling pretty awful after school.  We just did more hanging out and relaxing.

The video of this is a lot funnier.  They are blowing pieces of hard bread out of their mouths and Connor is cracking up.  He is laughing so hard.

Saturday morning I got up and got ready to go to the Temple, but then decided that I better take Jared into the urgent care since it is a long weekend and they are closed Monday and so if something was really wrong. He could start getting better.  We were lucky and got to see the doctor at the health center that we usually see Dr Wilmore.  He just happened to be the one there. He said he has been seeing lots of flu and strep going around so he checked for both of them.  When the tests came back we found out Jared has both!  No wonder his voice is gone and he feels awful.  Dr Wilmore said he wanted to look in the other guys throats since it was likely they would have it or catch it. So after I took Jared home I took Lauren,  Bradley and Connor back.  Lauren has strep throat too. Bradley and Connor not yet.  Hopefully they don't get it.  Dr Wilmore wrote prescriptions for everyone so if they do get it we can just go get them filled.  The pharmacy at the health center is closed on Saturdays so I had to go get Jared's and Lauren's filled somewhere else.   When I got home from all that then I got to go to the Temple. It was super crowded there.  I had to wait and go on the next session because the one was full.  Then when I was leaving there was a line out the front doors waiting to get in.  I've never seen a line like that to get into the Temple.  These guys were watching Beauty and the Beast when I got home. Alan went to winco in the evening. We did more relaxing here.

Not quite a caribou, but there is a deer there really.

Today Bradley and I were the only ones to go to church. I did singing time and Brad had fun in his sunbeam class. He has been telling me all evening little bits and pieces from his lesson. We played a few games and had dinner.  I hope the two sickies get to feeling better soon and that the rest of don't catch it.  I do think that since we all got flu shots that maybe even if we do get it we aren't getting hit as hard.

Jared's lego tower that is taller than he is.

I'm glad tomorrow is a day off.  It will give us one more day to try and get better. I forgot to mention last week that the tooth fairy got to visit our house twice.  Lauren lost her first two teeth...both on the bottom.  One was on Tuesday and one was on Thursday. She has been enjoying her cute little gap. I'm going to have to get a picture of it soon...before it fills in.

Another Great Week

Last Monday was back to the normal routine.  These guys had school...and it was freezing....That probably sums up the week.   Monday though Lauren was going to have a sledding party at school.  Bradley Connor and I bundled up to go down and help at it. They decided it was too cold and the air quality was too bad so they would try again on Wednesday.  We also cleaned up around here and had family home evening.

I had been doing dishes and Connor had been pretty quiet.  I asked Lauren where he was and she said in the back bedroom.  I said his name when I got to the door way...before seeing him.  He jumped about a mile.  He knew he had been caught.

Bradley's favorite songs right now are I am Like a Star and I am a Child of God.  He sings them constantly.  Most of the time I don't think he even realizes he is doing it.  One time on Monday while singing I am a Child of God he sang...with parents kind and sleepy.  (I was sitting on the couch feeding Connor...trying to keep my eyes open.  I guess he noticed :)

Easier to find what you are looking for :)

 He already has a cheesy smile.

Tuesday Bradley had preschool,  but only 1 other girl was there so we didn't stay too long.  Tuesday we cleaned some more and tried to keep warm.

I spent most of the afternoon cleaning out our fridge...and boy did it need it!  We got through this far and half the door, but by this point Connor and I were done!

Wednesday Lauren did get to have her sledding party.  They just sild on the little hill on the south side of the school.  It was just right for the kindergarteners. We took 2 toboggans with us. Bradley and Connor just sat in one pretty much the whole time and watched.  I had fun holding sleds and toboggans for kids while they climbed on then pushing them down the hill. I sent the boys down the hill once at the end.  Connor loved it but. Brad hated it.   Bradley did like the hot chocolate he got to have back in Lauren's classroom when it was over.  Wednesday afternoon I was finally able to get the Christmas decorations and tree put away.  I kept kind of waiting for the house to be clean so I would have a place to do it, but decided that would never happen and it just needed done.  It's amazing how much bigger our front room feels now.

Just hanging out watching...keeping mostly warm.

Lauren is in the background.

Down she goes.

Thursday we went to the library in the morning.  It was warmer on Thursday.  I think the high was 44. It felt so nice, but it was the warm before the storm.  It started snowing thursday evening...and didn't stop.  I guess it did eventually, but Alan walked home in it.  He got home around 8 and he said it was pretty slick out.

Lauren had fun calling some families for a survey she did for homework. (make tally marks and compare the results)  Do you like chocolate or vanilla ice cream better? Vanilla won.  Lauren's vote was for chocolate and she wanted it to win.  After awhile when someone would say vanilla she would say rats!  If only she asks a few more people they might come out on top.

Connor playing with the ball popper...I'm trying to keep him out of the kitchen while the other guys eat dinner.

Alan's walk home. 

It's just a little slick!

Friday was a snowy day!!!!  Alan got up and went into work early.  I had to scrape the car off every time I went somewhere almost.  The only time I didn't was leaving the school after helping in Jared's class.  There was ice to scrape off first thing in the morning and another layer of ice to scrape off when I went to help in Jared's class just an hour later.  In Jared's class we got to play candyland, but she had special cards that had a word they had to read on it before they could move to the color.  It was pretty fun.  It was so snowy at pick up time for Jared they decided to cancel the family dance that was going to be that evening. Jared and Lauren were disappointed, but that made it so we could go to the grad student society soup social. They had a few fun games and soup.  Alan met us there and then went back to work. It was so snowy we debated about walking or driving.  We drove and the roads were ok. It was only 19....when we were leaving and I knew it would be colder coming home.  We went down while it was still a little light out and I was hoping Alan would be able to help us get home...and so he could clear the car, but it all worked out.  Since we got the Wilk a bit early we took Spot It with us to play while we waited.

Saturday we just had a nice day here...We took our time in the morning and then in the afternoon we went to the mall to exchange a pair of pants Lauren was given and then to Winco.  Lauren started not feeling well later in the afternoon.  We watched part of Cars before bed.

Connor loving his yogurt banana smoothie for breakfast!...and sitting in one of the big guy's chairs.

Today was an ok day.  Lauren got to feeling worse throughout the day.  She had a temperature around 102 this evening so we'll see if she goes to school tomorrow.  I got to play organ today in our ward and piano in primary.  Alan is in limbo and was told to help in the younger nursery today, but there were only 3 kids there and 2 other leaders and a parent so he just got to go to class.  Bradley had his real teachers today...they split the sunbeams and have two classes.  He was excited to show me that he meets upstairs above the stake offices.  Jared and Lauren meet there too.  It is back to being super cold...hopefully we don't go so long below freezing this time.  Last time was 10 days.  It was nice to have the inversion gone for a couple of days...you could really see the difference in the air, but I'm afraid the yucky air will be back by the end of the week...We'll have to see.  Have A Wonderful Orange Pineapple Week!!!!

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Monday was Christmas Eve!  We had Santa pancakes in the morning.  For a couple of hours Alan went over to Jeff and Elizabeth's and worked on a project over there.  Here at home we worked on more finishing touches.  I finished Bradley's stocking, we made cinnamon rolls, and orange breads, and rolls.  We also had potato soup and corn chowder for dinner.  After dinner we had a little devotional and sang songs and read and acted out the nativity.  We left our milk and cookies for Santa...and a couple of carrot pieces for the reindeer, and a peppermint disk for Christopher...our elf that comes and stays with us during December until Christmas and then goes back to the north pole with Santa.  After those guys went to bed Alan and I had a little more we had to finish, but we finally made it.

Practicing Early in the Day

Yum!

Christmas day was super fun.  Everyone woke up right at 8:00..except Connor.  We only had to wait a few minute for him to get up.  We had a great time checking out our stockings.  Then making and eating breakfast and getting ready.  Connor was pretty interested in the presents and it was hard to keep him away...along with a couple of the others :)

As Jared put we were finally ready to start opening presents.  As I was shaking our our blanket after breakfast I saw another family out in our quad who were out testing a new sled they got for Christmas. It looked like they were already done with everything and we were just getting started. We had a good time taking it slow  and opening a round of present and then playing or stopping to check out and play with what was new.   We got adopted by some other people and they pretty much gave our family Christmas.  We had gotten small things to give each other, but this group of people got lots of bigger presents for us.  They had gotten about 5 for each kid and 5 for the kids to share and a couple for Alan and me.  We are really grateful for the kindness of these people!  Needless to say our kids had a great Christmas.  One of the things they gave us was a red wagon and Bradley got a bike.  It was just warm enough (and compared to today a tropical heat wave) so we took them both out for a test run.We had a fun time in the evening skyping with Grandma and Grandpa Schachterle and Scott and Bethany and Lily and Maggie and then with Ashley and Will.  We also had a fun time playing with some of our new toys.  Lauren got a baton form Grandma and Grandpa and that is by far her favorite.    It was a really great Christmas day!

Breakfast!!! (We are having a nice meal...sitting on the floor of the front room...I guess if we want it to be a really nice meal we put the table up in the room like Christmas Eve.)

Almost Ready!!!!

Our test runs

They wanted to have a parade, but as you can see with our 3 entries we already had spacing problems.  Lauren is doing wrist twirl.

Wednesday it snowed all day...just like Christmas eve.  We probably got close to a foot of snow.  We went out for about an hour to play in it, but spent the rest of the day inside.   Alan did spend a long time shoveling out our parking space and some of the side walks.  There weren't many grounds crew people around.

First thing in the morning they wanted to play with play dough.  Even Connor loved it!

We went up to north Wymount to do our sledding, so we could get a longer slide.

Connor was sitting on my lap, but crawled off and made himself comfy surounded with toys.

Thursday it didn't snow as much, but Alan shoveled some more.  We did more playing with all our new toys.  We did venture out to the bank and  store to get some steel conduit so Alan could make us some pipe chimes while we were out at his parents house.  We hurried home and had a quick dinner and then went down to Spanish Fork to see the Festival of Lights down there.  We all had a fun time seeing the lights.  Connor loved it!  They hadn't gotten near as much snow as we had gotten here.  We hurried back and got to go to the Men's Basketball game. (They let pass of all pass holders go to the game..probably since it was during break and lot of the students were gone.)

We let Connor sit on my lap while we drove through the lights.  He kept trying to climb up the dash because he was so excited.

Up in the nose bleeds, but still fun to go.

Friday we got up and got ready and went out to Grandma and Grandpa Atherton's house.  It snowed here in the morning, but it wasn't as heavy as the other days had been, so we figured the roads would be fine and they were.  We got out here in the late afternoon.  Lizzy's family got there a couple of house after us and were there the whole weekend too.

Having fun on the car ride.

Enjoying his snacks!

The lighting and the snow across Strawberry Reservior were beautiful.  This picture doesn't do it justice.

The only picture from inside Grandma's house this trip....that we took :)

Saturday we just hung out and played mostly.  Alan worked on the pipe chimes most of the day.  He did take a break and went with his Dad and Curtis to get a big load of fire wood from Kelly's (Alan's uncle) mill in Lapoint.

It was colder out at the Ranch.  We all did got out for a bit, but I didn't have the camera.  I grabbed it when I took Connor and Brad back to the house.  Alan is on his way to take Lauren back, but then the 3 of us (Jared, Alan, and I) did a little more sledding.

Snow Angel while we wait for Alan to get back with the sled.

Even I went down a few times.

He made it about half way down the hill before he fell off.

Alan made it most of the way.

Who needs the sled.

We all went together one time, but we couldn't get a picture.

Sunday we got up and went to church with Grandma and Grandpa.  It took us a little over 30 min to get there...something we aren't used to.  They had a nice friendly ward...we've visited once before several years ago when Lauren was still in nursery.  After church more family came out for the long weekend.  (Alan's uncle Wayne and Jen and Katie Jo, Liesel (cousin) and  Royce came too.)  It was a nice full house.  We also got to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Young out there since they live downstairs.  Sunday afternoon we cooked a big turkey dinner and had a feast.

Monday we got up and did a little and got ready and came home.  On the way home we stopped at Winco and got some things we needed for our party that night.  We made meatballs, seven layer dip, and spinach dip.  I had lots of good helpers while making all of it.  Jared kept telling me that it was going so much faster :)  I was just the assistant on most of it.  He mostly made the 7 layer dip by himself and Lauren did most of the work for the spinach dip.  Bradley helped with the sauce for the meat balls.  We are able to store it all in our additional freezer...outside on the balcony.  It all has frozen solid.  We put a new gallon of milk out on the porch and it was frozen solid..and had expanded and leaked out the top some. By the time we had cooked all the food there wasn't much time before midnight.  I think we were finally eating around 9:30 or 10.  We did have enough time to cut a bit of confetti.  Everyone was super tired, but we all made it until midnight...and not much after....which was perfect.

My good little helpers.

Cutting our last confetti!!!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1....

Happy New Year!!!!!

We of course did it several times.

Can you believe this guy is still up!

Tuesday  we slept in and then turned the Rose parade on and enjoyed watching that.  It has been so cold here we just bunkered down and didn't go out.  Alan did go over to Jeff and Elizabeth's to finish up his project over there..and clean up so they didn't come home to it all over :)  We played Spot It for the first time on New Years Day.  We all loved it!  Even Brad can get into it and there were some really funny moments.

Wednesday we all knew the end of Christmas break was coming...and Alan did go into work .  It was nice to have him home for a whole week.  It was a nice break and one I'm sure he needed.  Here at home we just played.  At their Wasatch they have an art show and their art pieces were supposed to be due Friday (but they extended the deadline)  We worked on those.  Jared decided he wanted to sew a robot.  He drew it out and designed it.  Then cut the pieces out and sewed it up.  I helped very little.  It turned out amazing!  Lauren just wanted to do a water color...which worked for me :)  We also did their other homework things that they had over break.  In the late afternoon Bradley came down with a fever.    Poor little guy didn't feel well at all!  We watched the Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  They all thought it was pretty funny.  Sometime on Wednesday some friends came over and asked if Jared and Lauren could play at their house.  I said no.  Lauren (who usually really wants to go and asks why tons of times if I don't let her...which I rarely let her)  looked at me and said how funny...right mom.  Why would they ask that it's like family time.  I just had to say yep and smile.

Sewing the head on...almost done!

This just cracked me up when I saw him...just relaxing with the funnies.

More play dough fun...Jared was pretty proud he wore his pjs all day.

Thursday it was back to school :(  It was 3 degrees out (yes, Fahrenheit) when I left to take them to school...yes  that's how cold it has been all week...or colder!  I think they had a good first day back.  Lauren took her baton for show and tell....and showed them some of the tricks she already knows.  Before school in family prayer Jared prayed that Brad would get better and that he would get to see some friends visiting from Arizona.  I just thought...not likely since I already canceled our plans with them since Brad is sick.  The first thing he asked when he got home from school was if they had come.  I said no and they probably aren't going to.  They had been planning on coming in the morning anyway.  We got to doing his homework and there was a knock on the door.  It was them!  They could only stay for a minute because they were already late for somewhere else, but they said they couldn't be this close and not say hi.  We were all very excited to see them and glad they would take the extra 5 minutes to stop by.  I'm glad that Jared's prayer was answered...although Brad still felt awful.  At bed time his fever was still around 102.  We had Jeff brave the cold and come over and help Alan give him a blessing.  I had been holding him and I think is fever started going down instantly.  We still gave him some medicine and he went to bed.  The first thing he said in the morning was I'm all better!  and he was.  He was back to his normal self...Connor had missed him.  Connor kept trying to play with Brad how they usually do, but Brad didn't want anything to do with it...and they would just fight over my lap.  It was fun to see them playing together again.

Friday morning it was -1 when we left for school.  Since Bradley was feeling better we went to story time at the library.  We got there partway through their baby time and then stayed for Spanish story time (the schedule is different on Fridays).  Then we went and picked up Lauren.  We ate a little lunch and I was working on organizing a few things and Lauren asked how long until we get Jared.  I glanced at the clock and said over an hour...she always asked...several times a day how long until we get Jared.  I didn't really think much of it.  I heard and saw a couple of kids go by out our window and I thought wow they are home early.  I guess their family must be doing something this afternoon.  Then I saw the third kid go by and I said oh no...it's Friday! (He gets done at 1:30 on Fridays)  We were already about 20 minutes late to get Jared.  We just had to throw whatever on and go...not all the needed layers for the 15 degrees outside.  I had to go pick him up from inside the office.  He just smiled when I got there and said I forgot it was Friday.    I think it helped that Greg told him the day I almost forgot him that Grandma forgot him like once a week and he would have to go call her in the office and it was amazing that he had only been almost forgotten once.  I do think Jared just thought it was funny.

Saturday we had a lazy slow morning.  We went swimming and then to the mall to return a game...we were given an expansion pack to Settlers, but we don't have Settlers...we exchanged the game for Carcassonne.  It is a super fun game.  We've played it twice already....I probably think it is so fun since I won the first time, but today when we played Jared won.  It is simple enough that Brad can play, but definitely has a bit of strategy too.

Today was a pretty normal Sunday...except Bradley is now a Sunbeam!!!   He is pretty excited and it is fun that our whole family gets to be in primary now.  Our church was back to normal and our ward was full again.  Several new families have moved in since the semester starts tomorrow.  I got to do music time.  We watched the I am a Child of God video off the Mormon messages.  We also talked about the chorus and I had family pictures that I had collected from most of the families in primary that we put up on the board.  I had written Lead, Guide, Walk Beside, Find the Way, and Teach on the chalk board.  We talked about how our families help us.  We sang do as I'm doing a couple of times (jump rope and chicken dance...I got laughed at for my chicken dance...but I think that's how you know it is a good one...and that just brings back a memory of baton in the cold cold garage...mom was teaching? and we were doing marching.  I wasn't keeping my back leg straight and she told me I looked like I was chicken walking....and know I know I was just practicing for today :)  Since some new teachers were called and classes changed Alan got to sit in with the new sunbeams today.  He said class was pretty noisy.  He still doesn't know what he will be teaching normally.  There are two little twins in the class who don't speak English...and Alan couldn't understand their Spanish.  When they talk to you and to each other they always sound just like the two bugs on A Bug's Life.  When they see me they always say hello hello hello (because we would sing the hello song almost every week in nursery...mostly because they would get mad if we didn't)  They are super adorable, but funny too.  After church I returned all the pictures I had collected before church and we had dinner played Carcassonne and ate ginger bread skookies.  It was a great day!

Connor discovered these chairs we made a couple of summers ago...and he loves them!  Connor can stand on his own and stand up from the floor.  He has also started taking steps.  His record is 8 I think...It won't be long before we have a walker!!!

See the pipe chimes are real...They still need a fine tuning, but they are pretty close.

Picking out the right ones to play Families Can Be Together Forever.

The crazy frozen milk...Alan brought it in to show me and said "look at its belly button."

Vacations are always so much fun, but it will be good to get back into a routine...if only it could be a little warmer in the morning..and all this week...although it doesn't look hopeful.  Have a wonderful orange-pineapple day!!!  (We'll just be dreaming of the tropics here...while we eat our mangos...my toes are freezing while I sit here and type this...it's 10 degrees right now. )