Wintering

 Last week was dark and rainy and bleak. The temperature hovered one or two degrees above freezing, making it pure misery to set even one foot outside into the damp cold. I did five consecutive runs on the treadmill--a new personal record. This week we had less rain, which made life a little more pleasant in spite of the short days. We even had a sunny day where the temperature climbed up above 50 degrees! Spring-like weather around here in December is very rare, so we made the most of it.

We have accumulated a sizable list of ups and downs over the past two weeks:

• Jeff's dad Dan was diagnosed with a slow-moving case of lymphoma. The doctor said it was "the good kind" of lymph node cancer to have, and "something else will kill you before this lymphoma does" but it was still not a happy day.
• Amber kept trying to dodge dish duty last week. 
• Rose and I both came down with colds last week.
• Amber had a speaking part in her 4th grade music concert on December 12th. She said she was nervous about the program before school, but she did just fine, although I couldn't understand her because the microphone was tipped down low for a short kid and Amber didn't quite get her mouth in front of the right part of it when she said her lines.  
• Also on December 12th, Jeff had parent teacher conferences after swim practice. It was a long day for him. 
• The kids squabbled during family scripture more than once. The conflict usually centered around Amber poking, prodding, and igniting the wrath of her older siblings however she could. When called out on her behavior, she indignantly insisted that "I just want to put my foot there!" or "I am just trying to sit down." Etc.
• We only had family scripture a handful of times over the past 2 weeks. Both the quality and the quantity of our family scripture time diminished.
• Rose gave me a haircut on Saturday! (Dec 14th) I showed her how to cut and she went for it! She ended up cutting a bit more off than I originally hoped, but it always feels that way even after a professional trim. She got it so straight across the bottom and was quite proud of herself. And I didn't have to go to a salon and pay $$ to endure small talk and hairspray fumes for 45 minutes. Having a confident, perfectionist 13 year old daughter sure came in handy!
• On Saturday night (still Dec 14th) we went to our ward Christmas party. I signed up to bring a "potato dish for 12." Somehow my name got put down on the list twice, so when I checked the digital sign-up later I saw that I was responsible to bring 24 servings of potatoes. I mixed up a massive gloopy batch of funeral potatoes and crammed it all into one disposable foil roaster pan. Zero leftovers. The ward party was silly and fun, with lots of random Christmas sing-along songs.
• Rose gave a talk about a way she feels God's love in sacrament meeting on Sunday (Dec 15th). It was a very sweet talk that she wrote all on her own. The only aid I gave her was the reference for a scripture about music. Rose seemed so much older than 13 when she stood up to her full 5'11'' height and said such beautiful words!
• I played my violin for the first time in a year. I always only seem to get it out at Christmas time these days. It was interesting getting past the initial rusty-ness so I could play actual songs.
• The kids all had dentist appointments on Monday (Dec 16th) which involved me leaving home over 30 minutes early so I could go to the 3 separate schools and check each kid out. The high school, middle school, and elementary school each has its own unique check-out procedure. It was so much fun. After that ordeal, I felt extra glad that this is our last school year with three kids in three different schools. But: no cavities!
• Rose went to the movies with a group of friends on Tuesday night (Dec 17th). Our movie theater has $6 movies on Tuesdays. This was the first time Rose has gone out with friends! I ended up waiting in the movie theater parking lot with her for half an hour because all of her friends were running late. More fun and games for the parent.
• Cooking dinner for the vast capacious appetites of my children leveled up yet again. 
• I continued driving swim team kids back and forth between the barn and the pool halfway through practice every weekday. 
• I felt like Amber as the youngest child was getting neglected too much, so one night Jeff and I played a game of giant Jenga with her. It wasn't much, but I want Amber to feel loved and important even though she's not a teenager on the swim team.
• I had a series of days where I felt the invisibility cloak settle around my shoulders again. It's my least favorite accessory, and I try to avoid it as much as possible, but sometimes the background work I do around the house and errands, chauffeuring, planning, etc. just gets left in the dust and I feel trampled and invisible. That happened this week after a series of "can you bring me this at school" or "pick up these kids at this time" when I was en route and told my services were no longer needed. It was maddening and degrading to be yanked around like that, even though it wasn't intentional.
• Jay's first full swim meet of the season was on Thursday, December 19th. Jeff told me the wrong start time for the meet so I missed two of Jay's four races.
• Amber's Costco melted chocolate ice cream on the potatoes debacle: Somehow Amber dropped her melty chocolate shake (from her Costco dinner on Thursday) into the trunk, where it dribbled all over several of our grocery, including a bag of potatoes. Since potato bags have holes in them, we basically had a bag of milky chocolaty potatoes. I was so tired and cranky and hangry (I didn't eat dinner at Costco since they done do dairy free). Washing chocolate milk (two things I can't eat) off of 5 lbs of pre washed mini potatoes was such an annoying way to end the frustrating frazzling evening. Somehow the chocolate got EVERYWHERE even though there were only a few spoonfuls of melted ice cream in the cup when Amber dropped it.
• The lens fell out of my glasses during my run on Friday morning. My eyes were watering so much from the cold that it took me a bit to realize that the lens was gone! I ended up having to blindly backtrack several yards before I miraculously found the clear lens glittering on the canal road. 
• Friday, December 20th was our 18th wedding anniversary! 
• Christmas break began on Saturday, December 21st. We lit candles during dinner to celebrate the winter solstice. The shortest, darkest day of the year is done! 
• Christmas Sunday at church was bursting with beautiful music as usual, and it filled my soul to the brim.

I took less than 20 pictures over the past 2 weeks! I have already stepped up my photo-game now that Christmas break has begun.

A quick snowfall selfie on my way back to the house after a treadmill run in the barn. I ran in shorts and a sports bra while watching the snow flurry outside the window. Best of both worlds!

Amber's 4th grade music program was all about snowflakes and how they're all different and beautiful. Amber is sitting on the far right front row. She said she signed up for a speaking part so she could sit instead of stand during the performance. 

Saturday morning treadmill date! We can run side by side at drastically different paces. 

Rose gave me a very even haircut. I was impressed with her confidence and success.

My new haircut! I may never enter a salon again. Thank you, Rose. Next goal: get Jeff to take over giving me a haircut before Rose graduates from high school.

Rose and her friend Elsie with Santa after the ward Christmas party. I love how Rose almost completely blocks the Christmas tree. Also, this was the only Santa picture I took.

Jay made cookies for his Sunday school class. The boy can follow a recipe. Also, he followed the one rule for cooking in my kitchen: leave it as clean as or cleaner than you found it. 

Cousin chaos at the grandparent house in Grandview.

An early morning treadmill run: I couldn't see OUT of the window so I spent the whole 30 minutes staring at myself and critiquing my arm movement, haha.

Jay jokingly "kayaked" in the large puddle (we call it Lake Jay) before swim practice. It was hilarious, and a bunch of his teammates got a kick out of it.

Amber prefers to hold her hair out of her face rather than wear a pony tail.

We had one day of spring weather in December. Running in shorts outside felt amazing!

Rose and Amber stomped on lots of bubble wrap that Grama Meri sent in a package of presents. It was so loud. The acoustics in our house must be amazing.

Jay swimming backstroke at the swim meet! That's him closest to the bottom of the picture, in a white cap.

Sadness. I had to drive 20 minutes to Grandview to the eye doctor office to get them fixed since all of our eyeglass repair kits were missing.

After family movie night on Friday (our anniversary), Jeff and I spent a cozy 90 minutes on the couch talking about everything. We love being married.

Cozy couch time with the Christmas tree glow, and a Netflix fire.

The art table is back! I finally set a folding table up in the basement again for Amber's art projects. We used the table for various team functions and meals over the past few months and didn't set it up for art again afterwards. The paint situation was getting out of hand so it was time for the return of the art table.

December 21st winter solstice dinner with candles: since it was Saturday and I don't cook on Saturdays, I took a picture of the kids eating their "fend for yourself" dinner. We still had the candles but it wasn't quite as organized of a meal as usual.

Amber gave her hair a trim at age ten. Yesterday. Seriously. She said her hair was annoying so she cut it off. I said she should wash it more than once a week and it wouldn't be as annoying! I didn't notice the self haircut until I was doing her hair before church this morning. Time for a haircut.

Christmas Sunday family picture! It was cold and wet and gross outside so we took it by the Christmas tree.