We had quite the week preparing for Thanksgiving, celebrating and then recovering. We went on break starting Wednesday and the kids were happy to have some time off. Truth be told, I love breaks too! I always loved them as a teacher. It always felt like a big reward because we worked so hard during school and then we got time off!
The kids enjoyed helping with the prep. Lila and Liam did most of the watching and Hyrum helped a bit. They all enjoyed tasted testing. Liam has learned quickly the concept of, "Taste." Said as a statement of fact, not a question of hoping to have a taste of whatever is being made. Doesn't matter what it is they all want to try it, even if it is boring bread dough. It's always a challenge to prep when you only have a 2 by 3 work space and a small fridge and freezer to pack all the food into. Thank goodness one of my few talents is to jigsaw lots of stuff in a tiny space. Definitely looking forward to a larger kitchen one day.
The kids were pumped for Thanksgiving and Tim actually had the whole day off, so they were happy to see him and to play. Hyrum has been on a soccer and wrestling kick. He is constantly asking to play soccer with someone and to wrestle. I can't really do the first and definitely can't do the second. It's a little hard to tell, but if you look closely you can see at least a hand or foot of each child. Tim enjoyed his time too.
We also finally figured out/got smart and did the countdown timer on our phones for a picture. Not sure why it took us so long to figure out, but no more missing people or awkward selfies for us! This was at the tail end of eating way to much food. We let it digest for a couple of hours before digging into the pie. None of the kids were able to finish their pie, they were so full.
Friday, was just a day off for the kids. Tim had to work on a lecture he has to give next week and then attend a football game. We made it to Saturday and had a family first. We got a real tree! I've always wanted to try a real one and this was the year. I asked Tim last year about doing it, so we found a place. Several things. Christmas makes all children super active and fussy. Doesn't matter what activity as long as it is associated with Christmas they will go crazy...especially if their name is Hyrum. He had to hold a hand most of the time because he was running in and out of the trees "looking" for the perfect one. Choosing the perfect tree is really stressful, and real trees aren't like fake trees. Fake trees are more perfect, so finding the perfect real tree is about accepting the perfect imperfections.
We took some time today to decorate the tree and spent the rest of the day dealing with active fussy kids. On the plus side, it was probably the first time in three years that Tim had been there for any decorating. Usually, it's just the kids and I decorating. I definitely wouldn't have been able to get the tree off the top of the van and in the house without pulling something.
We will have a couple more days off school, because we can! I realized that we are probably going way overboard on how many days we are doing school. Public school kids seem to have more days off than we have taken, and we are moving really fast through our curriculum, so we will be taking a Friday off every now and then.
Both Hyrum and Lila have made so much progress this year and it's hard to believe we are more than half way done with our school year. We started earlier in August and haven't taken much time off, so we will be done at the beginning of May. Lila loves writing all her letters and Hyrum is our math guy. He loves math and numbers. Liam is a chatter box and Tim always comments how well he thinks he does with phrases in context. He has definitely hit the terrible twos.
Tim will continue to stay busy with games for the next few weeks, plus prepping lectures and trying to get licensed in Vermont. It's not going well...he says he'll never practice there because their licensing process is so confusing and difficult. I continue to do my thing. I have taken to napping almost every day for a bit. I think the most difficult part of this pregnancy has been the sleep cycle interruptions. Hip pain, heart burn, and general discomfort have been pretty easy, but lack of sleep is killing me! Oh, and Braxton hicks. I try to play soccer with Hyrum, but just gently kicking the ball back and forth brings them on strong. Oh well, at least we have some awesome neighbor kids that will humor him and play soccer.
Until next week!
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