Feb 2023

Holland has some great things from school. Here is her recounting an activity from the Christmas advent. Also, her "complimat" from school is so cute. Henry proposed to her.

Date night with Miriam: dice rolling to determine where we went (Chubby's), yummy burgers, salads, playing Love Letter, picking up free donuts! She is so fun and darling. 

We laughed because we went to Chubby's and John and Holland went to Fat Daddy's. Basically we shouldn't eat at either one very often apparently. 

We received gingerbread house kits from Aunt Sarah for Christmas but it took until the beginning of February to make them. They were darling, and I can't believe she made all of it herself. She had the gingerbread baked for several different houses, and sent tons of candy to decorate with. The kids were thrilled. 

Unfortunately for me, this memory is a bit tainted because after doing the gingerbread houses, I started to feel sick. It got worse and worse, until right before bed I knew that I was going to vomit. That stupid stomach bug hit me too. It went through our family so slow. About 5 days between each bout of sickness. Actually it didn't take 5 days for me to pass it to John. He got sick pretty shortly after me. After feeling sick when I went to bed, I woke up a couple of hours later with some serious stomach troubles. Terrible, terrible diarrhea and vomiting. It was so bad that I passed out several times. I can't remember a time that I felt so sick. Thankfully John gave me a blessing in the middle of the night, and that was the last of the diarrhea and vomiting. I was able to sleep the rest of the night. It was a miracle. I could almost feel the healing through my body as he blessed me. 

I didn't feel well or really eat for another five days though. It was quite the stomach flu. I hate the stomach flu. Or any kind of stomach bug. Or any kind of flu. I hate winter when those things attack my family and me. No thank you to any of that.  

The next day Ellie gave me a foot rub even though my feet weren't particularly sore. Darcy came in at one point and said, "Mommy, I found you up here. I was looking for you, and I found you." 

So so tired of winter. I had to take a photo of the sunshine coming through on my Phoenix plants.

Ellie worked so hard getting ready for district stem fair. Miriam was super sweet too and helped her back everything (even though her project didn't make it to district). I felt so bad that she actually progressed to the state stem fair, and then we forgot to do it. I mistakenly assumed that there would be some kind of instruction or something from the teacher or the organization, but no, there was no follow up other than the initial contact saying she had made it. Yikes! I am proud of this kiddo. She did her project all on her own. 

I took Eliza to her high school and seminary open house, and it was both funa nd horrigying. I am glad my girl is turning out to be such an awesome YW who is going to rock it in high school, but she is getting so big so fast. She is going to graduate before we know it. 

Playing hid and seek with Darcy is so funny. She makes me count, runs and hides, and then runs to come get me when I finish counting. Also, she told me, "I have scary boogers in my nose." 

At bedtime one night Darcy told John that she was going to marry him. He said he is already married, and she said, "Oh because you're super old, and Mommy is super old?"  She also said in the middle of bedtime, "When you take all your clothes off, you're naked." 

Darcy's favorite word right now is "taste-o-fight." It can mean anything--food, touching your toes, cheers, etc.

Twisted breadsticks into a heart shape + steak + frozen corn + yummy salad + fancy chocolates. 

On Valentines Day, the older girls woke up at 5am to make us waffles before work and school. Those sweethearts! All of the girls made us valentines, and they were all so sweet. Miriam held Darcy. John gifted me some country dance lessons and a silly card. He also came home and spent his lunch hour with me. I am so luck y to have so much love in my life. 

Exchanging cards. 

I love making cards for the kids and John. 

Traditional sparkling cider floats after. 

The girls squeal so much when we kiss, so we had to take a kissing photo for their phone background.

My mom came down for Ellie's birthday (more on her birthday later). It was nice to have her here, even though I could tell she was having more mental struggles than she used to. She would regularly have panic attacks, and a lot of anxiety about what she should be doing. Darcy was over the moon to have her here. My mom is her favorite person. 

It was nice for me to have her here too. We talked about trips and gardens. We played Low Down as a family with her. Holland creamed the rest of us. On the kids' day off school we put together an extra fancy tea party. Everyone helped, and it was quite the production. I love that my little girls (or not so little!) still love that. 

I took Miriam in to get her braces on! It is hard to pay for braces for Miriam because her teeth are so naturally straight, but it is good to get her bite just right. I got to sit in a massage chair while they put them on her. And she is adorable with them on. 

There was one day when we got tons of snow, like 10 inches in one day. It was a remote learning day. After doing school work we decided to go sledding. It seemed to be the first day that Darcy really enjoyed sledding. 

I love how matter of factly Darcy speaks to me sometimes, "Can I take off my band aid right now? Can I take it off in the morning?"  She is such a doll. She also called John "the biggest sister" and "Daddy big girl" one night. 

Holland was so happy that her math page at home was doing the same thing that she was doing in her school math. 

While my mom was visiting, we went to Costco twice. Darcy really tried to expand her tantrum abilities while we were there. Miriam picked out a giant corn plant to buy with her own money. My mom is the one constant person in my life who will never discourage getting more plants. It seemed to make her so happy. Later that evening, John and I went to a production of 12 Angry Jurors. It was fun to go to a live action play. 

A couple of days later Miriam stayed home from school because she had a fever two days ago. So she wasn't that sick. She was super helpful with Darcy all morning and then she  and I hung out, played 7 Wonders Duel, and had snacks during naptime. 

Miriam went to the temple for the first time on February 28th. She was so cute looking all around with her giant eyes. She kept saying how fancy everything was. She also said that the confirmations felt very spiritual. It was a special day that John and Ellie and I could join her for.