Christmas Locked Up

This holiday break has flown by. I noticed yesterday that because of how the holidays fell we got one less weekend for the break so it really has been short but sweet. Ellie and Lila had orthodontist appointments on Dec 21st the first day of no school and they came home with fancy hot chocolate, I guess the office had setup a hot chocolate bar for that day. Then Ellie went to Hale Center to see a Christmas Carol with Coleton while Lila worked on getting some homework done. She was extra motivated because she was invited by a friend to a Harry Potter movie marathon the week after Christmas and I told her there would be no friend activities unless all her homework was done. The boys played well together as it was the first day of break.

Thursday, December 22nd we went skiing. I was a little worried because when I looked Wednesday morning it said the temp at Snowbasin would be 1degree at 9am with a high of 12 but it was the last day my pass was good because I got the value pass so I really wanted to go with the whole family. We let everyone sleep in a bit so it could warm up. I made Christmas tree shaped welsh cakes for breakfast which counted as my cookie for the day and satisfied Marcus's request for a Christmas tree cookie. Then we headed off. We had a great day! The sun was out and it was a little warmer than forecasted. We managed to do 5 runs from top to bottom and even went over to Strawberry for the first time of the season. It was a lovely day, the snow was good and it wasn't too busy and we really enjoyed ourselves. I told Marcus to keep an eye out for Santa and as we were coming back from Strawberry the girls were up a head and said they saw Santa so we hurried down the slope to see him.

I had chicken noodle soup in the crockpot that was delicious to come home too. Ellie had a work party at Sunridge at 3pm we were trying to make it back for. She ended up going a little late but still had a great time. She managed to win a game the boys have enjoyed playing a lot just the two of them over the break and $50 from left right center. 

Friday we spent the day relaxing, puzzling, playing games and just chilling and we finished watching The Santa Clauses series on Disney+. It was cute and I'm really glad we did it. As a matter of fact the episode we watched before going skiing the kids in the show were excited when it was 8 degrees in Chicago because it was above 0 and they declared it summer so it was a little joke when we went skiing on Thursday that it could be considered summer weather for some. Then Saturday Christmas Eve came and the house was all a buzz with excitement. We always do a nice meal for Christmas Eve dinner by candlelight so I spent some time in the kitchen preparing dishes and making a chocolate cake for Jesus's birthday. We had a lovely dinner and then watched The Christ Child: A Nativity Story as we watched it we each brought up some points about the story we noticed in Savior of the World when we went a few weeks ago and we had a nice discussion. Then we set out a piece of cake for Santa and sent the boys to bed. And sent the girls downstairs with strict instructions not to come upstairs but to call or text us. Steve and I got to setting up the Christmas "Lock Box". The kids were getting a trip from us as their big Christmas present which means there wasn't a lot of presents under the tree (really none from us) so my friend suggested doing an escape room like thing which I thought was a great idea. I began researching and found a fun Harry Potter one and have spent weeks gathering supplies, modifying the game to meet our needs, and making sure everything would work according to plans. There was still several final details to be put into place so Steve and I were busy. We finally pushed the locked cooler with their Hogwarts Orlando acceptance letters and a few other presents that were trip related out under the tree. Then I began to worry that the kids wouldn't like it. I had a hard time getting to sleep that night hoping that Christmas would still be magical and they would enjoy the adventure and trip as a gift.

The boys were up at 6:45. They came downstairs to look at the clock so I began to wake everyone up. We had to be to church at 8:45 because Andrew was playing his violin with the ward choir so we only had an hour or so before church to do stuff and Ellie worked at Sunridge at 11am so our window after church was short too, I thought the lock box might have to wait until the afternoon. The kids enjoyed seeing what Santa brought and going through their stockings and then just as things were winding down I said, "No one is curious why our cooler is locked and sitting in front of the Christmas tree?" And the kids were like, What?! So they went over and saw the letter sitting on top and Lila read it out loud. Steve and I told them that each challenged is marked with a Harry Potter lightening scar and they have to find the 10 challenges throughout the house and solve them to get the code. We also encouraged them to work together as a team and then let them loose. Andrew suggested they split up looking for challenges but the girls said they had already saw a couple while about their morning tasks so off they went.

One of the more difficult ones was a dot-to-dot horcrux challenge. Steve and I laid on the guest bed watching them puzzle it out and Marcus came up by us for a minute. I asked him if he was having fun and he said, "Yes." I asked him what he thought was inside the locked box and he said, "Something Harry Potter. I really want a game for the Switch." Then he hopped down to help hold the string in a spot.

 

 

They found the apothecary challenge right before it was time to start getting ready for church. They weren't for sure what to do with it so we brought it upstairs so they could look at it while we ate breakfast. One of the items contained syrup so I decided I would use it form the set on my breakfast hoping it would encourage them to think we should consume some of it. The kids were like, "It says highly poisonous on it." And I was like well I guess I'll risk it. After church they decided to each pick one of the Bulbadox Juices which label read, "known for use in potions for sight, drink to reveal what is hidden before you".

After drinking the potions which they found to be delicious Lila's bottle said, "pollyjuice cat" which lead them to Hermoine Granger. That left them with two more challenges to solve. One they found and were not for sure what to do with it and they had yet to find one. I eventually gave them the clue that the apothecary set had 2 lightening stickers on it. Then they realized that there was something else on with that challenge. They stood there looking at the Flobberworm wondering what it was and if they should eat it. Andrew offered to eat the sprinkles labeled Pearl Dust. I said no one is eating all the sprinkles so finally Andrew just grabbed one of the Flobberworm jars and bumped it out onto the tray, leading to gasps and laughs. Marcus quickly put one in his mouth and declared they are noodles. They didn't see anything in those noodles so they decided to go ahead and dump out the second jar and they found a name among the noodles.

 

They had the one challenge left they couldn't figure out and Steve had told me no more hints after I told them about the two stickers on the apothecary challenge. So the kids decided they had 4 numbers they were just going to go through the 9 digits on the last slot until it opened. I thought it was quite logical but Steve decided to give them a hint and said, "spelling" and they figured out the last challenge. When they unlocked the box they found a set of flying keys and another locked box. They managed to figure out the right key right off the bat to put in. They each got their envelope with the letters and Hogwart lanyards and Andrew read the letter but I don't think it quite sunk it what he was reading because when he was done we said, "We are going to Harry Potter world in Florida, that's your big present." And everyone got all excited and the trip is only two weeks away so it will come fast.

 

They each had one other trip oriented present to open in the box like tubes to use in the pool, or collapsible water bottles to take into the park. Each gift had a fun Harry Potter tag on like, "if you don't like this present I'll send you to Azkaban" and then I wrote on the back something fun the item represented on our trip, lunch at the Leaky Cauldron or Three Broomsticks. I think the kids had fun and are excited about the trip. Marcus kept asking is Harry Potter world real. I had to explain that the story is made up but there is a place that looks like all of the creations we will get to see and go on rides and he was pretty excited about that.

It was fun to watch them do the challenges. Ellie was very methodical and took the unscrambling challenge down by the decoder cards to help them know the possibilities it could be. Lila had an instinct with what to do to solve the challenges. Andrew was impulsive with his decisions but was not far off most of the time. Marcus was rather observant and would usually be able to tell them the correct color the challenge went with. Steve got in on the remote Mario and Yoshi remote car driving for a bit.

 

They got done in time for Ellie to head to work and we had a quick lunch and headed off to see Russ. We took a jar of salted caramels for the memory care staff and a vest for Russ, I thought it might help keep him warm without over heating him, but ironically we found him in shorts and a t-shirt that day. He mentioned that the kids have been sending him packages which was a little tender mercy that he remembered and could feel of everyone's love that day. He really enjoyed the cookies we brought but he kept falling asleep while were chatting with him. I'm sure he was tired from going out with Stephanie and her family the night before so after about an hour we left and let him take a nap in his chair.

 

After Ellie got off work she had all of the siblings open a present from her then she went around delivering presents to her friends. I explained to her that it was Christmas and Sunday so family time and she should not intrude but the last how she spent over 3 hours at, teenagers what are you to do. It was a good Christmas!

 

 

Monday, we planned to meet all of my siblings and their families in Idaho for a game day to celebrate together. The teenagers slept in a little more than anticipated so we got off to a little bit of a later start, but we had a good day, eating yummy food, playing games, and just hanging out. Here is a picture of Lila asleep with Ari snuggling her.

 

We've really enjoyed the Christmas time together. The next three days will be a little different as Steve returns to work, Ellie has a couple of regular shifts, Lila has a movie marathon with her friends, I signed Andrew up for the Hunsaker basketball camp so he would have a something to do for a few hours the next three days (he really is my kid that needs an out so this will be good for him and us 😉). And I have a few errands and things to do this week. Life is good and I'm truly grateful for this time of year, that we get to spend extra time together celebrating life and the knowledge we have of our Savior's life.

Here's a screenshot of Andrew playing the violin for sacrament meeting. If you'd like to listen to the song our meeting is still available here (his song is at the 34 minute mark and you can't really see him on the screen).

 

Our New Year celebration was low key this year. Every year I think we're going to have a party and let the kids invite friends over but this year I wanted us to stay healthy for our big trip. The girls tried to go snowshoeing on Tuesday with some friends but the snow turned to rain which would not make good conditions so they ended up just playing games here and they had a lot of fun. We tried inviting their family over but they already had plans so then we just decided to keep it simple since we were also doing a special fast for a dear friend in our neighborhood who recently found out cancer has reached her lungs and is undergoing some immunotherapy to treat it and for dear sister who is having some skin cancer removed this week. So Ellie went to work at Krispy Kreme that morning and we did a few things around the house. Then we smoked some pizza and ate cookies for lunch (I came up with a yummy Twisted Sugar copy cat recipe that could get me into trouble because I can't stop eating them). After our meal we started our fast with a special prayer. Then we played games as a family for a couple of hours and then the boys wanted to watch a show while the girls finished up some homework. We got back together to do our balloon popping and countdown. Marcus loves getting a new calendar and immediately put his up checking off the previous months and today, Dec 31, 2022. 

 

Then we watched the London fireworks and sent the boys to bed. Then the four of us (Steve, Ellie, Lila and myself) played a round of a new game my sister taught us Monday called 7down and 7up and then we watched a couple episodes of Modern Family before heading to bed. We hope that 2023 is a wonderful year! We know it can't be void of all disappointment or heartache but I hope we remember to rely on our Savior and know that through Him all things are possible. Happy New Year!

 

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year! This year flew by for us. We have had a wonderful year and enjoyed so much it's hard to condense to a Christmas card. So here are a few family highlights for the year:

*Yosemite, where several hiked to the top of Yosemite Falls, the tallest waterfall in North America and saw dozens of other beautiful water falls (Half Dome was not opened while we were there or I'm sure that's what my adventurers would have done).

*Church History Trip with many amazing spiritual experiences and a lot of family fun and adventures living in hotels for almost 2 weeks.

*Camping Trips, Steve took the boys the first week of summer with some neighborhood friends and then we went to Goblin Valley as a family and did some rappelling and had an amazing time together.

*Dating and Driving has now entered Ellie's life and it has been freeing to have her drive herself or pickup siblings. She is responsible and it has been a good experience for all.

*Steve's Dad moved into an assisted living facility in SLC this year and we have enjoyed visiting with him (and his Mom) more often this year.

*Puzzling, we started a puzzle subscription that has been so much fun. Marcus is always excited to get out the new one and find all the edges and we've found our teens up gathering around the table when they need a break to work on the puzzle instead of doing stuff on their computers which is an added bonus.

*Ski season came early this year and there have already been 5 ski trips with more planned for Christmas break.

We love spending time together and are grateful for the opportunities we have and for the knowledge that we can be together forever which is a part of our loving Heavenly Father's plan. Families are where we can feel love and learn how to love others. Life is tough, and we need people we can lean on, we hope our home is a safe haven where we can get advice, support, hugs, and, when necessary, chocolate chip cookies (which is often here). We love this time of year when we can spend a little extra time together celebrating the birth of our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ.

Love,

Stephen, Britney, Ellie, Lila, Andrew, and Marcus

 

Anniversary, a Christmas Miracle, and Secret Siblings

We went to visit Russ on Sunday and when I told him it was our 19th wedding anniversary that day he replied, "You couldn't find somewhere better to go?" I told him we loved him and were happy to spend some of our anniversary time with him. He is always the jokester just look at his faces in these pictures.

It really was the highlight of the day because we came home and both of us had to divide and conquer to help the girls get some homework in before the break. Lila has not been motivated to do much school work this past week and just keeps getting farther and farther behind. I had to sit with her and help her come up with plans and keep motivating her to keep working to get the few things that were due before school is out. She still has a list of stuff to work on over the break but she is hoping to get most of it done the first couple of days.

Steve was helping Ellie debug her final computer science project for her Weber State class. She wants to be able to take the final on Monday, but the teacher has to grade this final project she has been working on almost all weekend to get done. She submitted it late Sunday night and messaged the teacher hoping she would see it early because Ellie said she normally messages back at like 5am so she waited up on NUAMES campus ready to go to the testing center at a moment's notice. She finally came home around 2pm because she picked up a Krispy Kreme shift for the evening. She sent a text like 5 minutes after being at work saying the teacher responded and she has decided to take Tuesday off so she won't be able to grade her test until after the break. Ellie had checked with her several times and she said she would be able to finalize grades on Tuesday so Ellie was worried that her temporary grade would be a D which would affect her scholarship for next semester etc. I told her not to worry about it at work and we would talk when she got home. Steve and I looked up the scholarship contract and her GPA would still be fine for the scholarship the worst that would happen is they could charge us for that class but to be honest we didn't think anyone would be looking into over the break and the grade would probably be fixed by the time they looked at it in the new year. So when Ellie got home we told her that. We told her to nicely message her teacher and tell her thank you for all your help. I'm going to go ahead and take the final tomorrow and would appreciate it if you could grade it at your earliest convenience after the break and update my grade.

So Ellie went in today to take the final knowing that the teacher wouldn't grade it until after the break. She has to get higher than 80% or the teacher requires them to meet with her and retake it. She called me right as elementary school was getting out and I was just finishing up helping with Andrew's class party.

I could tell she was upset and she told me she got a 78%. I told her not to worry about it, we would just handle it in the new year. She came home and we went to choir practice and she set up a cute Minecraft game with all of the kids as part of our secret sibling activity for the day.

Her teacher sent a message around 4:50pm and said two questions were misgraded and she got an 82% and she would finalize her grade now. Christmas Miracle! A weight was lifted off of her shoulders and now she really has no school work to worry about over the break, yay!

As for secret siblings, it is something new we are doing this year. Steve and I have done the 12 days of Christmas to a family every year since we have been married. It is a family tradition carried over from my family and the kids love it. We think of families who might need an emotional or physical boost and we pray about which family to do. This year we were having a hard time deciding on a family and one evening I asked the kids what they like most about Christmas and Andrew said, "I like how close we are this time of year and the extra time we get to spend together." and it made me think that there are a few here in our own house that could use a little pick-me-up so we had all of the kids draw names and they were to plan little things to do for each other from December 13-25. There have been lunches packed, rooms cleaned, cider made for after school snack, 3-D printed keepsakes and other small gifts. It has been a little crazy to do on top of everything (Steve has been working 15 hour days for almost 2 weeks because he has two different product tests he's been supporting with guys in Korea and Malaysia so it's been a little extra crazy around here with him working so much) but it has been fun to see the kids think of each other and how they can show love. Marcus is so funny, every time he has to write a new note even though he writes the same thing on it, "To Andrew, I love you so much. From Marcus" so we have a dozen of those floating around the house. And obviously it's not so secret -- I think the kids figured it out on day 1 who had who which is ok because it leads to other opportunities can't be secret like Lila buying a treat after their NASA meeting last week. Oh and the night before the first day the boys kept getting out of bed and I told Marcus he is not supposed to wake up Andrew. And he said, "But Andrew told me to wake him up when I get up in the morning so he can do his secret sibling so I have to wake him up tomorrow, Mom." ok, fine. 😂 

 

For better or worse our new cookie every day is still going. We even went and got Swig cookies on Saturday after Andrew's violin performance at Apple Tree Assisted Living, he was the leader for one of the songs.

And today I found the series Santa Clauses on Disney+ and we've decided to watch one episode every night leading up to Christmas (ok we watched 2 tonight because of the major cliff hanger and because we needed to to be on schedule). It will be a fun little way to count down to Christmas.

December Friday Fun

Our December has not been too crazy but we did manage to participate in a fun activity the first three Friday nights.

Dec. 2, 2022 the Jazz gave each Jr Jazz player two free tickets to their game and Steve got 2 free tickets for being a coach so we had 4 tickets that came with popcorn and a drink too. We asked the girls if they wanted to go. Lila said sure but Ellie opted to not go which is fine so we bought one more ticket. Steve had some stuff come up at work and dinner got started a little late due to the girls NASA meeting so we got off for Salt Lake a little later than I wanted. Our usual parking spot in SLC was not open so it took us 30 minutes to circle the block and get parking which was a little frustrating, but we managed to get into the game just as the 2nd quarter was starting. The first play of the 2nd quarter was an Alley-Oop which is what Andrew really wanted to see so that was awesome! As soon as we sat in our seats Marcus said, "Where's the food you said we would get?" Yes my food oriented child we'll go get the treats. We had a really good time. I was tired and wanted to leave half way through the 4th quarter. Andrew wanted to stay for the whole game but we finally convinced him to go. It was a fun night and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

Dec. 9, 2022 we were able to secure tickets to see Savior of the World at the Conference Center theater. It was a really neat show that focused on more obscure parts of the nativity story. The music was good and the set was amazing how they did so much with a simple setup. My only complaint is it was quite long, we didn't get out of the theater until 9:45. Fortunately we had good parking and were just an elevator away from our car so we were out pretty quickly which Marcus was grateful for because he didn't eat a good dinner and was starving and really wanted the chicken in a biscuit crackers I knew were in the van.

Dec. 16, 2022 we bought tickets to see the Lindsey Stirling Snow Waltz Concert in West Valley. We really enjoyed the virtual concert we did last year so we thought this would be a fun way to celebrate our anniversary with the kids. And it was AMAZING! She is a wonderful performer. Steve called her a triple threat (haha since we're finishing the basketball season tomorrow), she can play the violin really well, dance, and sing. It was highly entertaining and I can't believe how fast the two hours went by. My favorite part was when she shared her story of fighting anxiety and depression while touring. Her therapist told her not to focus on what she thinks people are thinking about her or sending her but what she can send out into the world through her performances. She then bore her testimony of a Savior who came to make up the difference for us and all He asks is we give our best. She then played O Holy Night. We had a fabulous time!

Her and the "band" played on their tiny "first" instruments. It was fun and they played a Harry Potter song. And of course she did some aerial dancing while playing the violin.

 

We've also managed to sneak in a couple of Harry Potter movies in anticipation of Christmas surprise. We enjoy using the home theater as a family and it has been a fun way to spend some extra time together as a family. One evening I even brought down lunchable sandwich stuff and we had dinner while watching the movie.

Mom's First Ski Day

of the season. We talked about taking everyone skiing today because it's Ellie's Friday off from school, but she has one college class she is working hard to finish up on time so she opted out, Lila had a presentation at school, Marcus said he had to go to school for a secret project (I'm sure a parent Christmas gift), and then Andrew is always in to go skiing. Unfortunately I woke up with a headache and had been ignoring some lower back pain for a couple of days so I decided to a go back to bed while Steve attended a meeting (he's been working from 9am to 3am the next morning because he's had two guys out at testing sites, one in Korea and one in Malayasia he's been supporting) and then I went to the chiropractor and he got me realigned, yay! Then Steve and I ate lunch before checking the boys out an hour early. I still could not convince Marcus to go skiing so he stayed home with Ellie. So the three of us got ready and loaded up to go. While we driving up I saw the sign that carpool lot A is for 3 or more so I told Andrew he just earned his ticket to go with us any time because it gets us into lot A. 😂

 

We knew it would be cold, like a high of 15, but it was supposed to be sunny. As we were driving up you could see some clouds hanging to the mountains and there was a little wind and snow at the top so colder than we anticipated. We rode the Gondola up and then Andrew wanted to do Wild Cat but as we reached the top he admitted he was getting cold so we decided to ski down to the Gondola again to warm up a bit and that might be our last run. We went down Needles and it was the best snow we had all day. As we got to the bottom there was no line for the Gondola so we decided to do that run one more time for a 4th and final run. When we got to the top it was sunny and there were less people on the runs, it was our favorite run of the day. It was a good ski day with my boys! 💓

Light the World 2023

This year we decided to change our nightly tradition and instead reading from the Gospel Art pictures (we have done that for at least 12 years) we bought the Immanuel Wreath Candle Centerpiece. There are 25 different names that Christ was called with a slot for a candle. Each night we light a new candle with the previous candles and reflect on the many roles Christ plays in our lives. We've also been talking about the Light the World (watch the video on that page it is so lovely) each night and sharing ways we have been able to share the light of Christ through our service and actions. And the candlelight is such wonderful visual for this conversation of lighting the world.

I'm not going to lie our nights have been a little more hectic with older kids schedules and just regular activities (basketball practice, violin/piano lessons, dance etc) that we haven't been really consistent with it but I love the conversations we have around each name and how we are trying to Light the World. The boys love that they still eat a chocolate from their advent calendars each night along with the candles and of course we have to take turns blowing them out. 😂

Tonight we talked about how Jesus is called a Teacher. Did you know out of the 90 times Jesus is addressed directly in the gospels, 60 times He was called Teacher. He is the master Teacher. We also talked about how he is a Healer. I really liked a thought we found about this name. It said, "Jesus is the 'Great Physician'. He came to cure the sick and poor in spirit and to heal our souls and restore our relationship with God." I had never thought of that as being a healing process but I really like the idea of that.

We have had some real personal experiences this past week with heartache and concern for those we love dearly and have been able to share some really neat experiences around the candles as we learn more about Jesus. I'm truly grateful for the role He plays in our lives and this sacred time we focus a little more on His life and what we can do to be more like Him. I really looking forward to our Christmas Eve dinner with all of the candles lit.

3 weeks later Marcus Returns to School

Marcus was a little nervous to go back to school. I actually tried to send him back Tuesday last week but he was in tears about it and he kept saying he didn't want to go to school while there was snow outside. He even said that again this morning, "Why am I going to school when there is snow outside?" I didn't think anything of it until I got a call from the principal, who was like, "I have Marcus here in my office. There was a little incident at recess. A group of 8 boys or so got into a snowball/ice fight and some kids were hurt. Marcus was really good using his words and explaining who he hurt and apologizing. We reviewed the rules of not throwing things with the group of boys and they have agreed to play basketball at their next recess. Does this sound ok? Can I send Marcus back to class?" Uh. . .yes please. 😳🤪 I guess I should have explained snow etiquette with him before sending him to school, the things you don't really think about some times. And I guess I should have expected some kind of incident after missing 3 weeks.

I decided to make a small batch of sprinkle sugar cookies as an after school snack to celebrate the boys feeling better and being back at school. It was so well received that I decided to do a small batch cookie every school day until winter break. It's been fun! Here they got a double treat because my friend made us homemade snicker doodle marshmellows so they had hot cocoa with the cookies.

Cold and Flu -- BOO!

It has been a rough few weeks around here. Marcus started running a fever on November 12th. I stayed from church with him on the 13th and he just was miserable and refused to eat anything because his throat hurt so bad so we decided to take him to instant care to get strep tested and see what was going on. I guess we timed the trip to the instant care pretty well because we only waited 5 minutes and the receptionist said they had been slammed all day and then when we walked out there were several people in the waiting room and several in line to get checked in. The strep rapid test came back negative but the doctor said he had a double ear infection so she was going to call him in an antibiotic and hopefully it would help with the throat too. There was only one pharmacy open at that time on Sunday so we headed there. Steve came out and said the pharmacy didn't have what we needed and we needed to drive to Ogden to get the antibiotic. I called the pharmacy in Ogden while Steve started driving to make sure they would have it. The pharmacist was really nice and said she'd have it ready when we got there but then she realized it would be $200, YIKES! I decided then and there I need to ask more questions about what kind of antibiotic my kids are getting prescribed, I have 2 that are allergic to amoxicillin too which always makes it a little tricky, but I don't understand why the doctor prescribed this instead of what Andrew got the week before. And on top of it both pharmacists said this one tastes nasty, they tried to flavor it for us but it was still hard to get Marcus to take it, partly because his throat really hurt. We were able to get one dose in him and put him to bed only to hear screaming a couple of hours later. We ran upstairs and walked in and could hear gagging noises so Steve thought he was throwing up but when I turned on the light I saw blood everywhere. He had gotten a really bad bloody nose and it was just streaming out and down his throat causing him to gag. His shirt and sheets were covered in blood. I got him out of bed and was putting pressure on his nose while I held him and Steve started a load of laundry. Marcus asked for a blessing and then we made him a bed on the couch in our room so I could keep an eye on him. I was so grateful we got the bleeding to stop. In the excitement and shuffle we moved Andrew into the other room for the night and we didn't talk about what happened in the morning and I guess Andrew told our carpool friends that Marcus was throwing up blood. I'm sure that's what it looked and sounded like.

By Thursday the antibiotic wasn't helping and he was still running a fever. Steve was like it's time to go back to the doctor and he hardly ever says that. I had a feeling to reach to to Steve's brother Doug who is a dentist so I sent him a text and said, "Marcus has some really bad sores in his throat. The only thing he has had to eat all week is a half of an ice cream sandwich at which point he cried because it hurt so bad. Is there any thing you'd recommend we do." He immediately called me and asked a few questions. I thought maybe he had thrush because he didn't have any sores on his hand and feet which would have been the obvious illness. Doug asked us to find a compound pharmacy so he could call us in some "miracle mouthwash" it would numb the sores so he could at least eat and drink while his body heals. It took us hours to get him to try it and when he finally did he was able to eat some stuff and his fever broke that day so we were hoping things would start clearing out.

We decided to go out to dinner for my birthday. All my plans for the week had kind of been derailed by child care (one sick and one heart broken teenager -- story for another day). We went to Red Robin because I love a good burger and the kids loved the idea of bottomless fries. We tried to do call ahead but apparently they don't do that so we sat in the little Nissan rental car (since the Tesla is finally in the shop getting repaired) and played heads up on my phone while we waited for our turn. The girls had met us at Red Robin after their NASA meeting at the Clearfield library, they are doing a plant project with a real NASA team and could come up with ideas that could be used in the Space Station. They are having fun and I think it's a good thing for the two of them to do together and I love that Ellie can drive them there.

Saturday, November 19th, Steve took Andrew skiing. We kind of had a slow start to the morning so we didn't get them out as soon as we should have (I think he's always hoping to convince a few more to go) but they still managed to get in a couple of runs and have a good time. Snowbasin opened on my birthday with a pass holders exclusive weekend. It's the earliest opening in 80 years, yay we need the moisture. 

They made it back in time to have lunch before Andrew's basketball pictures and game.

Then straight from the basketball game Steve and I took Andrew to his violin recital. His teacher said, "Andrew was incredible. I think the best Gossec Gavotte I've had a student perform ever." She also played a beautiful piece for a us. We really are so happy with Mrs. Clawson and are so grateful we found her to be our teacher and friend.

Sunday night I started not feeling well. I thought it was a little head cold. I started doing sinus rinses and drinking vitamins, you know all the things you desperately do in hopes of a quick recovery. Tuesday, November 22nd we had tickets to see Little Mermaid at Hale Center Theater. I always try to book a family activity like that around my birthday. We originally had it scheduled for November 17th but I was worried about Lila missing dance and she wanted to invite a friend who couldn't go that night so we shuffled things around and got a ticket for Carole to join us too (we got 8 seats spread across the theater in pairs, it wasn't ideal but everyone still had fun). I was not feeling up to it so I had Ellie invite her friend Emily to take my ticket.

We planned to have Carole and Russ up for Thanksgiving and I had been doing a little cooking all week in preparation. I thought Wednesday I would start to feel better and all would be well, but unfortunately it went to my lungs and I was not feeling well. I sent Carole a text, "So I'm not feeling as well as I hoped I would. 😢this cold has settled in my lungs. We're still cooking and planning on Thanksgiving and I'm doing my best to keep my germs to myself. We'd love to still have you and Russ up but it's totally up to you if you feel comfortable with the situation." They still came up and we had a lovely meal. Russ kept saying, "Everything is so good. Thank you!" He kept trying to tickle Marcus from a far, he always loves to tickle Marcus except for now he can't get around so well to do it so he just makes the hand gestures and Marcus giggles. They watched a movie after dinner and before dessert then headed home.

 

I forgot to buy mini marshmallows for the sweet potatoes so I cut up a couple of giant marshmallows we had from camping. well they really expanded while cooking, it was hilarious when I opened the oven to check on them. Then they melted away to practically nothing.

 

Friday, November 25th Steve took all the kids up skiing. Somehow Marcus's helmet didn't make it into the vehicle. . .whoops. I was a little worried because it was early season conditions but they had fun.

 

At one point Friday evening we were talking about what we wanted to do/accomplish on Saturday and Andrew said, "we can always go skiing again." That kid loves to ski, I think him and Steve are going to do a lot of skiing. Unfortunately that evening , Andrew and Marcus started coughing and I felt so bad for getting them sick. Fortunately Marcus did not get it quite as bad which I'm grateful for because he was just so sick the weeks before. And Steve and the girls have managed to stay fairly healthy. They said they got a little stuffy at one point but are really fine. Steve has been a trooper holding down the fort because there were a couple of days last week I did not get out of bed much. He hauled in Christmas and we decorated. Ellie is the master fluffer of the tree. She meticulously goes around fluffing.

and he did take apart day with the boys and the boys built Lego nativities

and we've started a puzzle subscription called Completing the Puzzle, where you do the puzzle mail it back and then send you a new one. It's been a lot of fun to have a puzzle out and to sit around at different times working on it and visiting with the kids. Steve love puzzles and he's committed to even the hard ones.

So here we are on Friday, December 2nd. It's our 2nd delayed start to a school day due to snow this week. Ellie and Steve are excited to go hit some powder runs today since she doesn't have school. I'm finally starting to feel a little better. The cough is subsiding and Andrew and I started an antibiotic to clear out our sinuses. I've been getting really bad sinus headaches the last two days and I'm still tired, like if I sit down I fall asleep. The boys have been home from school all week. Marcus has missed 3 weeks of school. 😬 They are still coughing a little and are tired because they are begging to go to bed at 6pm and sleeping past when they normally do. So here's for hoping we can feel better.