2020 :: week 4

January 19

Sunday was Stake Conference so I had to document one of the half a dozen Sundays a year that we get to sit with Anthony at church. It is so much easier to listen when someone else holds Miles. He is loud and likes to move and gets frustrated with attempts to contain his curiosity. Sunday afternoon Anthony had one of the YM over to watch the Chiefs game with us.

January 20

We took advantage of Anthony's day off and went to IKEA on Monday. The older three kids spent an hour in Smallville while Anthony, Miles and I shopped. We are trying to find a couch that will fit the funny shape of our family room with the layout I have in mind and it is proving much harder than I hoped.

January 21

I took Elliott's picture with the Patrick Mahomes life size bobble-head at Hy-Vee Tuesday. KC is going a little crazy for all things Chiefs and Mahomes. I'm sure this won't be our only photo-op between now and the Superbowl.

January 22

Wednesday we met with our ward preschool group. The theme was Winter and we had a lot of fun with it. We read Snowy Day and The Mitten, made "snow globes," and had a giant indoor snowball fight. Elliott got really into it. He kept pelting everyone, but especially me with snowballs. He kept yelling "direct hit!" even if it got nowhere near his intended target. Kids are funny.

January 23

Currently Miles is our best eater. He eats everything, and I mean everything I make for dinner. This week we had alfredo, sweet chili, spaghetti, pork chops & rice, and white chili. He loved all of it! He grunts when he runs out of food and slams his hand on his tray as soon as we load him up with more. Thank goodness for these plastic bibs that collect the food he drops. He makes us laugh when starts digging in the "trough" desperate for more food. I am going to soak up this era of appreciative eating, because if he is anything like his older siblings he will go through a long period of not trusting what I serve for dinner. Also his second top tooth cut through this week, bringing his total to four.

January 24

Due to overnight snowfall and slippery roads school was cancelled Friday morning. Every time they cancel school the curmudgeonly side of me that lived in North Dakota for three years comes out. I was pretty annoyed this time because it wasn't a big storm (it snowed about 3 inches), it wasn't that cold (right around 30 degrees) and all the major roads were clear. But it seems our district has decided to exercise extreme caution and does not want to take on the risk of sending buses to pick up children on side streets that are not cleared. I can respect that, but I do find it excessively cautious. We made the most of the day by watching "The Rhythm and Roots of Arthur" on PBS Kids, shoveling the driveway, going to an hour of open gym at 360 Gymnastics and making cookies. I let Lauren and Elliott do it *almost* completely by themselves. I made sure they measured out the correct amount of each ingredient before they dumped them in the bowl but the rest was all them.

January 25

We had a busy Saturday that started off with Will's basketball game. They played against a much more experienced team and lost by quite a bit, but Will held his own. After the game I went to the temple for the first time in several months. I felt like I needed to prioritize a time to go while listening to the talks in Stake Conference. When I checked the schedule to plan my visit I realized that the temple would be closing for most of the month of February--so I couldn't dawdle! While I was gone Anthony made a white chili for the ward soup and bread dinner. That evening we had a lot going on. In addition to the church activity Lauren went to a friend's birthday party and then we all went to our neighbor Mark's 50th birthday celebration. I remember thinking that Saturdays were relaxing, but not that special when Will and Lauren were young. Now I am never bored and often overwhelmed at all we get to cram in. It is a very fun stage of life, I'm just always tired.