Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

It doesn't get any cuter than this, folks. Soren is a sunbeam now. This was his first week. He marched into nursery and Sister Conover gave him a graduation hug and a bottle of bubbles, then sent him back into the hall toward the primary room for sharing time. He went in cheerfully and sat reverently in his tiny chair on the front row. This child never stops surprising us with his mellow, happy, will to obey. He really does "shine for Him each day."  Welcome to Jr Primary, big boy! 

"Swim!" said the Mother

I'm trying to get ahead of the game and get a few more children swimming independently before summer hits. I think I will feel much better about the pool next door if more than one of my children are water safe before it gets uncovered for the season. This year, Soren is finally old enough to go to lessons! He was very excited for his turn. 

...until it actually was his turn. He sat in the corner on the top step and said, "don't look at me!" to his instructor.  

Fortunately, Soren was not her first feisty fearful fish. After about 15 minutes, she just grabbed him and took him out to deeper water to play. He didn't have much choice but to trust her! I'm thankful his personality type goes well with this approach. He was fine the rest of the time and loved the second half of his lesson. I don't think he'll be timid at all next week. 

Little Sloane pacified herself by people watching from the comfort of her bucket seat. We cruised to and fro between the three pools and dressing rooms dropping off and picking up each sibling from their classes. She chewed on a pair of goggles from the swim bag and several mothers stopped me to point out that she had them. ;)

Corbin is in the level 3 class that meets right before Quincy's. I originally had them together, but decided to separate them to avoid any distractions due to sibling rivalry. We naturally have plenty of that happening with these two! Plus, it just made more sense to have the boys swim at one time and he girls swim next, so I could get everyone showered after lessons and only take up one dressing room. 

Quincy's level 3 class got to play basketball, which Corbin thought was highly unfair. Next week, I'm sure it will be her turn to blow bubbles and his to "have all the fun." I guess there's no avoiding that rivalry after all! Haha! 

And Reese kicked booty with a beautiful backstroke in the level 9 class. I'm so impressed by how much her endurance and technique have improved since participating on swim team last summer. She'll be ready to make some big waves when this season comes around. 

Day In

Martin Luther King day brought us a 1 inch dusting of snow. Most of it melted off as the sun came out, but it was a good surprise for the children to wake up to on their day home. 

A boy in his element. He didn't care that he was coughing up his lungs all night, or that his ears and sinuses hurt. Or that the temp was "feels like" 12*. Nothing was going to stop this kid from playing in that long anticipated snow. Those blue snowball makers were a Christmas gift from my sister, Amy, several years ago. The kids love them and I highly recommend purchasing some if you have kids. Perfect, easy snowballs every time, in nearly any kind of snow. And since we didn't get enough accumulation for sledding, these little tools made the snow play last much longer, so all that bundling up was worth it. 

Soren and wheezy Sloane stayed inside, with me, and we were joined by Q, later. 

This was a good idea ;) 

Sloane actually loved it. Mostly. 

I built myself a roaring fire for the first time in a long while and am pleased I haven't lost touch. The many winters we spent hauling arm loads of split logs into our old house and stuffing the big stove feel like ages ago. I can't believe we used to rely almost exclusively on firewood to heat that little house. I miss having a stove insert for practical/heat efficiency purposes, but I really enjoy being able to SEE the fire and watch flames rise, and the coals glow from orange to white to black. It's a pain to add fresh logs every hour though. Our stove used to burn for several hours without needing any maintenance. Either way, tending a fire took me back 8 years to simple, slow mornings with only babies at home. 

The children warmed up their freezing bodies with lunch proudly prepared by Reese and Quincy: good old fashioned canned bean and bacon soup with saltines.

The children were disappointed that I wasn't taking them "anywhere fun or cool" on their day off school, but I couldn't justify taking a wheezing baby anywhere, and wasn't interested in driving anywhere until the roads dried off, anyway.  I remembered I'd bought something for a snow day experiment and pulled it from the closet. We read about simple machines and set up a pulley in Corbin's room. Hours of fun. I carefully lectured caution to each child (some twice) that this particular pulley can NOT lift humans.  (Can you imagine? Especially since I had just pointed out elevators as an example of pulley uses. Oops!) anyway, all went well and all sorts of non-human things were hoisted onto the top bunk, then lowered back down. 

Holiday + snow day + sick day (for some) = comfort foods, so we opted for all the right kinds. Q had a play date at Cadence's in the afternoon. Since we were venturing out to drop her off, we hit the dunkin donuts drive thru on the way home. 

The late afternoon was wasted away watching almost 3 straight hours of tv and it was wonderful. I recently introduced Reese to "When Calls the Heart" and it is super fun to share each episode with her. Corbin and Soren came and went and built a tunnel fort between the sectional and the ottoman with the sofa pillows. I made Marium Seidel's Classic homemade Mac n Cheese and it was a satisfying end to our slow, sicky day. 

Creamy Mac n Cheese 

1lb elbow noodles

1 stick butter 

2 cans evaporated milk

1/4c Parmesan grated

2c sharp cheddar shredded

4c other shredded cheese (I use a fiesta or Italian blend) 

1 can cheddar cheese soup (this keeps the Mac from drying out and getting all gross/crunchy.)

1 tsp mustard

1 tsp worchestershire 

1/4 tsp garlic powder 

Salt pepper 

Cook noodles to al dente

Melt together other ingredients and pour over noodles

Cover pan tightly with foil and bake @ 350* for 35 minutes 

Sick days and vacation days

RSV is the worst. Poor little Sloane. We thought she was getting better on Saturday, but that night was rough and Sunday was much worse. She screamed and screamed for almost 5 hours last night. She was so tired, but would only sleep for 5-10 minutes, then wake up coughing or snotty and it would start all over again. Aaron and Bro Shaw gave her a priesthood blessing that she screamed through, and then I tried to get her to go to sleep again. I realized she was frustrated because her nose was too runny for her to suck her thumb and breathe at the same time. No sucking = no sleeping. I had the thought to give her some benadryl, which would not only dry her out but help her get some sleep. I gave her the suggested dose for a 6 month old, since she's so tiny.  I also found some saline mist for her nose, which she hated, but I think it helped because the screaming settled to normal baby crying after that. 

About an hour later, she fell asleep on my chest in the rocking chair. Sweet baby.  I almost stayed there all night, but attempted one last time to put her in bed.   She mercifully slept the rest of the night until 6am. The doctor says she is not contagious, since the fever is gone, but I really cannot imagine taking this little sicky out in the freezing weather we are having, so the kids and I are going to enjoy our day off at home, today. We got a dusting of snow last night. They are each doing a short list of weekend recon chores before suiting up to go out and play. (There is much weeping and wailing about it.) If Sloane takes a nap, maybe ie I'll bake. It's a tradition to make soft pretzels or orange rolls or something on the first snow day. Honestly though, I'm not feeling too hot myself, so I may just cave and turn on the wii after a 4 month hiatus, because I just heard accusations that "I can't make my bed because she's stalking me!!" Haha I think these illnesses are making us irrationally grumpy. 

Grateful for answers to prayers, for the opportunity to sneak out and go to church yesterday, for our friend who drove over here in the snow last night,  and for this little "Facebook memory" that gave me a laugh, this morning. 

Tis our season! Healthy days will come :) 

 

The Je Ne Sais Quoi

The girls' turn for a date came after dinner, tonight, when we hit target for new school shoes. After a while of shopping Quincy turns to me and asks, "but where else are we going? This is fun and all, but in order for it to be an official date, it needs a little...je ne sais quoi. Dessert, maybe?" 

Are you kidding me with the French? Who is this child?! We opted for late night chips and salsa under a hubcap ceiling at Chuys. 

I loved spending time with these two, and we loved it when Kasey joined up with us, too. Q told her that she must be the je ne sais quoi. K was flattered. 

We found everything we were hunting for, and then scored swimsuits for upcoming winter swim season. These two are growing up and I hate it but I love it. They are not just daughters, they're also my friends. 

Primary Class Pizza Party

3 cheers for great primary teachers! Q's new teacher threw a pizza party farewell for Logan on Tuesday evening. They played a game, ate pizza, and did a little service project packing snack bags for the incoming and outgoing missionaries for the mission office. One interesting fact about Quincy is that she will play with whoever is available. Boy, girl, older, younger, she has no preference and just likes to play and have fun. But the downside to this great adaptability to be everyone's friend is that doesn't have anyone she considers her "best" or super "close" friends. She has recently become aware and recognizes that there is a closeness missing in her life that Reese has with her best friends and I have with mine. Thankfully, Reese and Quincy have a best-sister friendship that can't be beat, but I still really appreciate occasions when peers invite her for play dates or bday parties, and when teachers go out of their way to plan great class activity, like this one, where the children can just play together, develop their friendships, and strengthen the bonds between them.  This was a great opportunity for Quincy to see friends outside of the quieted primary classroom and connect with them on a fun level. Thank you Sister Bingham and Sister Thomas! Q had a blast at her special night out! 

This week in the life of Meg Willardson

1) I have seen the pediatrician seven times in just over two weeks. Boys were congested, Quincy had strep, Sloane had her 1 year well check, back to the dr with Soren, back with Corbin, and today back with Sloane. It seems like everyone will be healthy for a day and then someone else falls ill. 

Soren has an ear infection, and on Monday he was a sleepy little cherub on the sofa.  Thanks to antibiotics, he was feeling pretty great by Tuesday. 

Sloane, on the other hand, has been waking up every few hours at night and just screaming. Luckily, I am still nursing her because that's the only thing that seems to console her from 2-5am. 

The blessing of her crying all night is that she napped all the way through preschool yesterday, and for 2 hours after! But when she woke up at 4am today, she was burning up. Her runny nose was out of control this morning, so back to the pediatrician we went. 

My poor baby Sloane has RSV. I swear this horrid virus lurks outside Fort Willy like a fox prowling baby chicks every time we have an infant. It's almost a rite of passage that she has her turn with the nebulizer. We are fortunate to have caught it right away. I normally would have waited a few days or for much worse symptoms before taking her to the doctor, but I felt prompted to just go this morning. RSV can turn ugly quickly, so it feels like a blessing to be wise to the fox's game. 

I'd still rather not be dealing with it, though. Sick babies are so so sad, and this crept right up on us when we finally thought everyone was well. At least my doctor can drive a nice car. ;) 

Honestly, he deserves it!

 

2) I'm helping put together a big activity for our ward Relief Society: a Super Saturday women's conference retreat. Tuesday, my task was to pull together some kind of decorations/centerpieces. Pinterest is full of ideas, none of which fit our zero dollar budget for decor, but it's providing good inspiration and I love the opportunity to get creative. 

The event will have a breakfast and a luncheon, a keynote speaker, two workshops, a service project, music, a game, and a lot of other fun details. Should be a beautifully uplifting day. 

 

Update: here's what I came up with from stuff I already had around the house. It was nice to spend some time being crafty. We'll fill them with white baby's breath or greens and put them on lilac tablecloth squares I have from one of HolleeAnn's weddings. (Thanks, sister!) 

3) I was supposed to host a farewell gathering at my house on Sunday for the Pendletons, but sick children changed our plans a bit. After everyone went to bed the other night, I played in the kitchen and made a bunch of breads for Carly's gathering. Our new favorite artisan bread: apricot and pistachio with a liiitle almond extract. So delicious. I made some honey butter to slather on there and will be making the bread again very soon!! So good. I also made a couple cheesy loaves and a lemon Rosemary batch. My home smelled SO GOOD on Sunday! 

4) I married well. We had to cancel our sitter/date night on Saturday in favor of a trip to wellquest to get meds for Quincy (strep). After the children went to bed, Aaron set out for takeout and nailed it! 

Beautiful offering. I was on the floor with Sloane when he returned and he set this in front of me, and all I could say was, "that will do." And THEN the ice cream and cobbler bag was placed in front of me. Some girls like flowers. This, to me, = true love, baby. 

5) everyone's getting along like sistahs. It's like they came from the same batch. Welcome, ladies. 

6) poor Steve. She survived the New Year's Day fox attack, but has zero tail feathers. They should grow bank over the next couple of months. Until then, I doubt we'll be seeing any eggs from her. Corbin, your hen is one tough bird. Way to raise a fighter. 

7) I want to read more, so I bought myself a couple books.  I'm loving this one, but I so do not need to read it. I could have written this book. The KonMari method of tidying up is totally the Meg Willardson method of tidying up. Still good motivation to simplify and accumulate less stuff, though. This speaks my language, big time. I'm highlighting all over the place and nodding my head, "yes!", and writing in the margins, so when Aaron picks it up and skins it, he'll know which pages to browse. He often teases that I should write a book. I don't know what I could say about any topic that hasn't already been said, but Marie Kondo and I are kindred spirits. I could've had a best seller! Aaron, if I ever strike it rich with a book, I'll use the royalties to buy you an island just for all your papers. Because I love you back. He teased that my book title could be, "So, I Married a Paper Hoarder: a survival guide for the OCD spouse." Hahaha. His sequel, or companion book would be, "It's ok that she's crazy. You still love her. Even when she throws your stuff away." 

8) one day last week, I had a repeat thought to read poetry to my children to help them get along before school in the morning. They lapped it up for breakfast and begged for more. 

9) Reese had an awards assembly today and was recognized for honor roll. All A's and B's. She worked hard to keep these grades, and I'm happy that her diligence and patience to work through a few tough times has paid off. Well done, dolly!

10) Swimming lessons start at today at the fitness center. The children are not happy with me for signing them up for this challenging life skill. They are very grateful to Sloane for getting sick and are hoping to miss tonight if Aaron can't meet us there and tag team.  Piano lessons start next week with a new teacher. Our afternoons are filling up, and I thought January was a slow month.  I am feeling relieved now for missing out on basketball sign ups.