Ready for Christmas!

 All this extra time at home has allowed me to be more ready for Christmas than ever before! Not only did we get all the decorating done quickly (done over Thanksgiving weekend when we didn't have much else to do), but all the presents are bought, some are still on their way, but the ones I have are wrapped and under the tree, which is very unusual for me! We sent out our Christmas cards, are almost done delivering our friend gifts here, and the gifts to family far from us are on the way! Even better, I feel like all the gifts are meaningful, and not just a last-second buy. I really thought hard about the gifts we gave everyone. 

I'm proud of our Christmas card, even though I made a mistake on it and had to fix it (you'll know when you get it if you haven't yet) because it was simple and inexpensive, which allowed us to get 100 of them to send to family and friends far, and use them to give out with the soaps to friends and neighbors here.  We've had so much fun delivering the soaps and cards! The boys and I did our neighborhood friends last Friday when it was a crazy warm day and we could ride our bikes through the neighborhood. They ran up to the doorsteps and left the gifts with quick knocks on doors and then we would be on our bikes to the next stop. 

We've been delivering to our ward family throughout this week because we have to drive to those houses and can only do a few at a time. Last weekend we got to deliver three huge baskets of goodies that the Youth at church usually do, to three inactive families. That was the night we handed out a plate of cookies in the LighttheWorld challenge. We gave them to the young lady who lost her mother to cancer a few months ago. 

I was even able to make pillows for my students this year. I was planning on doing it anyhow because I only have 12 students and that's so much easier to manage a nice homemade gift for than 25+. Being off work for quarantine gave me the extra time to finish them off. 

Lastly, at the beginning of the month, we delivered gifts to an 8-year-old from Detroit who we sponsored from the Operation Cheer group that gives to foster children each Christmas. We give anonymously, so we didn't get to see him, but after reading about him, we know he would be good friends with Austin and Erik if they were to meet. 

All these moments of giving have allowed me to really feel ready for Christmas. Most years I feel like I missed someone or something because there just wasn't enough time or I ran out of steam, but this year it has been a good way to take my mind off the pandemic and the stress of Covid. 

I'm ready!

Soaps for everyone! (this is only a small portion of it) My boss thought it was the best gift he has ever received, just because it's so appropriate right now!

A few fancier soaps for the people I minister to and our closest neighbors.

Pillows for my students. I backstitched their initials in them and put a drop of evergreen oil in each one.

Wrapping gifts for our 8-year-old friend in Dertroit.

Erik went with me to deliver the gifts at the drop-off location.

A Close Call

 I've had many inner battles and mixed feelings about a lot of things lately. One of them was our decision to travel out West to see family for the holidays. Even my "close call" gave me more mixed feelings about it, but in the end, we decided to just stay here.

Last Monday morning, I received a call from Red Bell as I was preparing my breakfast. They told me not to come to work. Someone had tested positive for COVID-19 and we needed to wait to hear more instructions. That morning I was all distraught. They wouldn't tell me, at first, which classroom the infected person was in, due to privacy policies. It makes a big difference in my position, though, because I'm only there for four hours and come in contact only with my classroom students and my one assistant. Other teachers/assistants are there longer and have more contact with other students and teachers. 

I had to text the Relief Society Presidency who I was actually physically with the night before, the first time in a very long time. We had decided that we were going to sign Christmas cards for the ladies in our ward together, socially distanced, of course. Our area was still on a pause, but it was supposed to be lifted the next day (it wasn't of course), so none of us had been around many people, but when I found out about the COVID scare at my school, I felt awful!

After texting my boss personally and reminding her that I come from a big family and we have a lot of connections with people, even if we've been social distancing, that we would need to make aware if I was more at risk of being in contact with the infected person, she finally told me that it was a student in my class. I was going to have to quarantine and until I took the COVID test, and possibly afterward. Luckily, we have been more strict with our kids and they hadn't been around many friends that weekend, otherwise, I would have had to do a lot of texting! (Thank goodness for lots of homework over the weekend!) 

I was able to get ahead in Christmas prep and organized a lot of stuff, the few days while in quarantine. Victoria had to buy toilet paper from Target, where she was planning to go to buy some presents in her free time. We make a Walmart order every week for a pick-up. We found out that our order for last week wouldn't contain the toilet paper we desperately needed, which became a problem since the last few times I went to Costco, it was out there too. With not a big storage of it, we were suddenly out! 

Finally, Wednesday evening came and I was able to take my scheduled COVID test. I've heard many stories about how awful it is, so I wasn't looking forward to it. Lucky for me, I got to swab my own self! I made sure to put enough pressure that my eyes teared up and the nurse counted the long ten seconds for me, but I think since I could do my own and could control the amount of pressure, knowing it was sufficient, but no overkill, it was just fine!

10 minutes later, I was notified it was negative! I texted the RS presidency and my boss and we were all very relieved. Thank goodness I wear my mask at work! We can't open Red Bell until a full 14 days from when the student was there, which will be next Thursday, but at least we can be there before Christmas to get the students' gifts finished for their parents and have our holiday party!

During those long days at home, while my kids were in class and worked on homework all evening long (no exaggeration for some of them), I had many thoughts about our vacation. We were going to go to Utah and then on to California. In CA we were going to stay in a hotel, but we've read that hotels are not allowing people from out-of-state to stay in them unless they intend to be there for 14 days under quarantine first. Even with my dad's booking of the hotel, if they discovered where we're from, what if they turn us away? Utah doesn't seem to have many regulations, but on the way there, what if we're denied staying a hotel? That is less likely, but we don't want to risk it. Also, if we want this thing to pass and we're praying that it does, how can we expect our prayers to be answered if we're not doing our part??

We're all a little sad that we've canceled our whole trip, but looking forward to some of the fun ideas we have in store for us here. 

Erik and Austin made these ornaments on their Zoom primary activity (Erik was fully clothed then). Erik's looks like the Corona Virus.

Freedom!

 Victoria now has a lot of freedom. She has a job at Plato's Closet, just down the street. She only works about 10-12 hours per week, usually on Friday or Saturday, sometimes on a Monday. Those were the days she listed as being available, so it works out nicely that she's only been scheduled for those days. She likes going there because since we've been on this "pause" and she hasn't been able to get together with friends, it's a good way for her to socially interact with people, which she needs. 

She got her license last week and is now able to drive herself to work. She even went to the bank right after lunch today so she could deposit her check from work. 

I've also been certain to use her services. She took Erik to run an errand last week one day and took both boys to the park on another day for exercise and fresh air. The playground was closed, but they got to run around the pond and watch the ducks. 

She's enjoying her new freedom! I would count this as one of the positive outcomes of the pandemic. She wouldn't have access to Jason's car much if life were normal, nor would she have time for a job. There's the silver lining!

Just have to get the real license in the mail!

Getting gas and having fun driving Karissa!

Thanksgiving 2020

 I've had no high expectations for much lately, besides school work being done, meals for my family, and my usual personal schedule to keep my sanity. I didn't know what Thanksgiving was going to be like with the "pause" we're on now. 

We were supposed to watch the McEwen's dog Daisy, one of our most favorite jobs, while they went to Can Cun for Thanksgiving. They had some points at a hotel there from a stay last year. Those fell through less than a week before Thanksgiving, so they invited us to go to their house for dinner. Since Governor Whitmor said we could be with one family during this pause, we decided that the McEwen's would be the perfect family, that way not one child of ours gets to choose a friend. 

I was looking forward to eating with them. The thing that really lifted my spirits, though, was President Nelson's challenge to post something we are grateful for every day until Thanksgiving on social media. I'm not a huge fan of social media. I'll post big things here and there, but I try not to get really involved. I have to say that I really enjoyed looking for things I am thankful for and finding creative ways to portray it. So many things came to mind and I didn't even get to post them all, but it was so helpful for my spirit to recognize all those amazing blessings I have. I also enjoyed reading other's posts, but it would take a lot of time, so I had to set a limit. 

On Thanksgiving, after breakfast, we all did Erik's P.E. workout which was a selection of turkey games and cardio/strength training that had Thanksgiving themes. We also threw the football around in the backyard. It was so fun! The weather was warmer than in previous days, so it felt good to be outside. Soon after that, we discovered that Stefanie Nelson, our good friend who Karissa calls Sis Nel, was really down in the dumps. She already suffers from depression and migraines. She was upset because suddenly it was just going to be her and her husband for dinner. She had the turkey ready to go but doesn't even like turkey and didn't want to have to cook it and eat it without the company she was expecting. Karissa texted her and offered to go on a walk with her when she walked her dog. So at  12:30, Karissa and I went over and walked for over an hour with Bro and Sis Nel and I really think it lifted her spirits. I know it lifted mine!

Erik helped make the chocolate cheesecake pie. He actually ate most of it and liked it.

Austin chose to make rolls for his LME class. It worked perfectly for Thanksgiving!

Football fun!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner at the McEwen's. They're excellent and healthy cooks! We have a lot of things in common. It also turns out that Victoria's virtual violin teacher, who also teaches Trey and Jasmine McEwen, paired them up for the Zoom Christmas play along that will occur in a few weeks, not knowing that we were going to eat there. So after dinner, we practiced the songs. Jasmine just started playing, so she's only playing a few songs, and Karissa, who doesn't actually take private lessons right now, but is still in orchestra, was recruited by teacher Sister Swalberg to play Jasmine's part on her viola. It was a great way to start the season!

I was charging my phone in the car, so I put Jason up to the photos for a while.

Trey, Karissa, Jasmine, Victoria 

The pie that Erik helped make turned out to be a hit with the kids. They didn't like my small bit of trellis crust on the apple pie, but I don't like a lot of crust and I love apple pie, so that's the way I did it!

Austin, Erik, Karissa, Jasmine, and Ethan enjoying dessert.

Victoria, the selfie queen, took this of me and Jason, Trevor, Kayla, and Trey.

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning and getting our house ready for Christmas. Since we went to the McEwen's last-minute, almost, Jason had already planned some yummy things to make at our home and we already had a turkey. Plus, you have to have leftovers, so he worked really hard on Friday, despite being upset by Nebraska's loss, to make a turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole from scratch. It was delish! He's a very good cook!

4 Callings Birds in our garden (pigeons)

Putting up Christmas lights.

Even Luke helped.

Jason cut some logs so we could paint ornaments.

Austin made one with the Grinch holding a face mask with 2020 saying: Stink, Stank, Stunk!

We took some pictures of the kids individually, just for fun. They turned out pretty good. Love these kids!

I'm grateful for this time we had to give thanks and to start off the holiday season. I'm curious to know what the next few weeks will be like in terms of social distancing, but am trying to soak in the beauty of the celebration of Christ's birth and not worry about it for now. Happy Thanksgiving!

9th Birthday

 Months ago, Erik and I decided to plan a virtual party for his birthday celebration. My kids all love to celebrate at parties with their friends. Austin and Victoria lucked out with their live parties, but I didn't think Erik would be so lucky. Plus, he still hasn't even been inside any of his friends' houses since before the original shut down, nor have they been in ours. His best friend had moved to Connecticut. Soon after that, I thought, why not have a virtual party and then we could still invite Desmond and even Victor from Colorado (who moved from here 2 1/2 years ago and whose family is really close to ours) and his cousin Nikolas from Utah? 

 Turns out we had great timing! His party was on the 21, two days before his birthday. Five days before that, they announced that the elementary school kids would be going back to full virtual schooling, due to very high numbers here. I think all the boys were so happy to have something to look forward to!

 We sent out three packages to the out-of-state friends and delivered party bags to the friends here- 9 friends in total. The bags included Bingo cards, journals and pens, a balloon, some candy and gum, a bag of microwave popcorn, a packaged birthday cupcake, and a Hot Wheels car (becasue they're Erik's favorite!) 

 The card in the bags said: 

Even Though We Have to Stay Away a Bit, 

 We Can Still Make Erik's Party Just as LIT! 

 We hosted the party via Webex (Jason has an account through Ford). We played a get-to-know-you-game including what state each kid is from, how they know Erik, what they like to do, and what food they want Erik to try. They suggested breakfast burrtios, pizza a few times, salad, burnt marshmallows, dragon fruit, shrimp, octopus, and cookies. Erik reminded the pizza ones how much he hates pizza and I don't see him really trying any of the other things. Maybe a burnt marshmallow, definitely the cookies! 

 We played Bingo next. Austin was our score keeper for all the games, though everyone opened up their cars after the first game, so I could tell them they all got prizes! We did a scavenger hunt. They found and brought back to the screen random things, like something red, something round, something that reminds them of Erik, a leaf, and a pet (stuffed or live). We played pictionary. They drew pictures in the journals we sent them for everyone to guess. We didn't require gifts, but most of them shipped or dropped off gifts, so he opened gifts next. Then we sang and ate cupcakes. Let me tell you, singing Happy Birthday with a bunch of 8 and 9-year-old boys over the computer is very interesting! After that, they all had a chance to pop their popcorn and get settled and we streamed Toy Story 4 for them to watch together. They looked so cute on their couches wrapped up in their blankets to watch the movie! 

When it ended, we had 15 minutes left, so we played charades with the remaining time. It went so well and I'm so glad we could all celebrate together! Some of those friends, even ones that live right here, we hadn't seen for 7 months or more!

It's hard to get a virtual party picure!

Watching the movie.

Friends all cozied up for the movie. Some of them disabled their videos so the movie would work better, but they could all hear each other laugh, etc.

Bingo cards and journals that we sent.

On his birthday, I made French toast sticks for breakfast. Erik opened up a few gifts before his siblings got on class. He has class in the afternoon, even with it being virtual now, he still meets with the teacher from 1:15-4. He has asynchronous work to do in the morning and specials, just as he did when he was meeting at school. So he worked on his morning work while I went to work. Victoria made him lunch. She had to go to work that evening, so that was nice. He opened the rest of his presents before he got on class so Victoria could be there. He talked with grandparents in the morning as well, which I know made his day.

Austin gave him a Dairy Queen gift card.

Victoria gave him a coupon for a date when she gets her license next week. He's very excited to go out with her by himself!

He wanted Wendy's for dinner, but didn't end up eating the chicken nuggets becasue they were the spicey kind, on accident! So he had french fries for dinner, though I did give him a hard boiled egg and string cheese so he could have protien before cake and frostys. As you can see, his eating habits haven't changed much, but he eats his usual and does a good job getting in all food groups.

Second round: Karissa gave him a Marvel Drawing book.

New hat and sweatshirt from Jason and I.

His favorite gift from his friends, a Rubix game.

All his gifts!

He wanted a corona virus cake. This is how he wanted it to look.

Goofy boy!

After dinner, we played a balloon volleyball game and then watched Zookeeper. It was a fun day! Erik loves to play with all of his toys and they are all over the house, which is annoying, but fine because it keeps him busy, since he has a lot less work than his siblings. Part of the reason for less work is becasue he's still in Elementary school, but it's also because he's very motivated to get his work done right away. He's very prompt and timely and likes to get everything done right away. Another reason is that he's very advanced. He reads a few grades above his level and his math skills are a grade or two above as well. His teacher gave me some extra things to assign him so that he can be busy with school work longer.

Schoolwork on his birthday.

He's so excited to read the Percy Jackson series!

He loves playing games, doing puzzles, playing Among Us, doing anything with Austin, playing outside, reading, and watching Boss Baby: Choose Your Adventure. He likes to be funny, sometimes it's about bodily noises, but sometimes I truly find it funny! 

 Love this kid!