Thanksgiving

We have had a great Thanksgiving break. On Monday and Tuesday we had a combined A-C team non mandatory practices. My team had the most show up both days, woot! I also spent those days cleaning my house, putting up my Christmas decorations, doing laundry and packing. On Wednesday morning we headed out to Arco. Scott stayed home because he only had Thursday off of work. I think he felt just fine about not going to an overly crowded house with 5 children 2 and under. He got to stay home and watch movies with the volume blasting. He also got to have Thanksgiving dinner with our good friends.

As soon as we pulled into the driveway my mom wanted us to go straight to Rocky Canyon for a hike. She waited long enough for us to unpack a few things and use the bathroom. We went for a short hike. Piper is especially NOT into hiking. Ryan actually went the whole way I believe. I don't know because Piper and I turned around at some point. It was nice to get out in the fresh air and walk, I actually do like hiking. Keaton and his family came all the way from Illinois and Kelsey's family came from Seattle. We played games, had taco soup and pie, and watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The next day Trisha's family came over and Chase's family as well. We ate around 12:15 because Chase hadn't arrived yet. We were all ready to eat! After we ate dinner and rested for a bit we headed up to the church to play lightening. I thought my dad might die of a heart attack playing. No deaths on Thanksgiving! We also played some pretty pathetic and painful volleyball. Ouch! The rest of the day we hung out, played games, ate more food, and later watched Funny Farm.

Friday morning we headed home. It snowed a bit in Arco and it looked beautiful heading out of the valley. The roads weren't very good but not terrible through Carey and there was hard rain for at least 45 minutes on the freeway. Not great. About 20 or so miles from Boise the car kept making this horrible sound like I was driving over a huge pot hole at 80 mph! It was stressful. I pulled over and couldn't see anything wrong so I slowed down and crossed my fingers to get home. Phew! We made it home. Between dicey road conditions and car troubles that's sealed the deal for me driving to Salt Lake by myself after Christmas. Scott may be able to take a couple of days off. We will have to wait and see. I'm NOT driving. Scott took our car in and I guess the brakes are going out and the sound is from the hardware being pulled or something? The water pump also needs to be replaced. Boo!

We also came home to a furnace that wasn't working. We bundled up and waited for Scott's co-worker to come check it out after work. Luckily he's good at fixing things and he got our furnace to work. Hooray! I was really worried about waking up early to teach with no heat!

Speaking of teaching I got paid my $300 bonus from Gogo! Yay! I have made around $800 of VERY easy money from them. I got paid in the first 2 months just for opening slots, I got paid a big chunk for referring my friend and I got the $300 bonus for meeting some criteria my first month there. SWEET! I doubt I will ever make easier money again.

Back to our busy schedules tomorrow. We will see how it goes!

I made the rolls for Thanksgiving dinner. After watch the first season of the Great British Baking Show I think my rolls would not do well. Ha. So many different sizes, colors, and running into each other. Tisk, tisk! 

I decorated my classroom for Christmas.

Rocky Canyon Hike

Puzzle time.

Game time!

Cousins!

Nice jump shot Gramps! 

Sad, sorry volleyball game.

Update

Nothing too much to talk about. We won our game on Tuesday making it 4 for 4 wins. We lost our game on Thursday. I was happy though because my girls fought really hard and gave the other team a run for their money. I went into it knowing we would probably lose to this particular school so I was just happy my girls played well. The other coach told me that was a fun game at the end. I think they are used to easy wins so we made them work for it at least.

I got up at 4:15 instead of 3:45 last week and it was MUCH better. Even though 3:45 is really 4:45 before the stupid time change mentally 3:45 is harder to deal with and going to bed earlier is more difficult as well. 4:15 is a time I can manage. I'm happy to be done with Dada. Now I'm mostly working for VIPKid and supplementing with Gogokid. I do love having two companies so I can double my chances for bookings. VIP and Gogo are very similar and easy to switch back and forth from. I think I may have earned a $300 bonus from Gogo. I was waiting for my paycheck and I saw that I didn't get my bonus so someone suggested that I email them and ask them about it. (The bonus was very confusing to know about because of a lot of things happening with the company). Anyway they e-mailed me back and said that I did qualify and they would pay me by the end of the month. I'll believe it when I see it but I'm so glad I followed up!

I spent the day making rolls today for Thanksgiving. I think we will put up the Christmas stuff tomorrow depending on my mood. Corbin and Gabby have been taking care of my friends chickens all week. We've only had a couple of minor whoopsies. The chickens are fine. I'll be glad when Rachel gets back home tomorrow.

Ryan hiding under his pile of stuffed animals.

I made a neutral shirt so I could wear it with both companies. Friday night I had a class with Gogo, then VIP, then Gogo, then Vip. I'm working for both in the morning as well. 

My basketball team. Go B Team!

Birthday Week!

It was birthday week! On Monday we had pizza and bowling with Scott's work. The kids had a blast bowling and the pizza was good. The only problem was it was kind of late and we had to bolt earlier than the kids wanted to because they still had time left on their video game cards. I lost an hour of work with the time change so I was getting up at 3:45 every morning last week and trying to get in bed around 8:30 ish. It was really hard and didn't really work out. Getting up at 3:45 is not as hard as trying to get in bed by 8:30. I need a little bit of down time after my kids go to bed before I have to go to bed. This week I will be getting up at 4:15 and see if that's more manageable. I will try to go to bed by 9:15. We will see how it goes.

My birthday was a chill day which was nice! I had a b-ball game that night and we won! I came home and Scott made stir fry for dinner and then I pretty much went to bed after some cake. We had another game on Thursday and it was a closer game. It was looking dicey there for a minute but my girls pulled it together for another win. Coach Moss didn't sit by me and I did my thing and afterwards she had lots of things to tell me. I was telling Scott that she is sucking the joy out of this for me a little bit. I do want to get better as a coach but I think it's a balance and I also want to do my own dang thing! Anyway we will see how this week goes. I think we will be playing harder teams and I'm sure Coach Moss will have a number of suggestions for me! Ha. 

On Friday I went to lunch with a group of friends for my birthday and it was fun to catch up with them. I scheduled myself for a bunch of work this weekend. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Ha. I had another friend take me out to lunch yesterday for my birthday as well. I'm getting excited for Thanksgiving break. It will be here in a snap.

Bowling

My friend gave this for my birthday. A giant bowl (I've always wanted one that big, the only way it would be better is if it had a lid), and popcorn and M&M's. Perfect!

Scott and the kids were able to come and watch part of my game. I told Scott and the girls to get on their "dance clothes" which to Scott meant dance recital clothes. Ha. Not what I was meaning.

B-ball game.

Ryan got himself dressed and ready only to discover there was no preschool that day. He was SO sad.

Our stray cat has been MIA for awhile and was back yesterday for a bit. Gabby was so happy.

Finally! I had my last day of work for Dada. I'm so happy to be done.

Scott's work had a photo contest for next years work calendar. One of his photos won out of about 250 entries. It's a picture he took at my parents house on their farm. Cool! 

Old pic from Scott's phone with Gabby playing with Colie and Rustin's chicken. She LOVES animals.

Halloween

We had a good busy week last week. Monday was insane. It was a Monday first off and it was Ryan's birthday and we just got back from Utah. I had SO many things to do that day. PHEW! I was so happy when I asked Ryan if he would rather carve pumpkins or go to Pojos for his birthday and he said carve pumpkins! Win! Two birds with one stone. Ryan was so excited for his birthday and he got a hatchimal from Nana and he loves it so much. He also loves his beanie boos from Colie and the ones he picked out from Granny. Happy boy!

Wednesday was Halloween! I woke up and put on my costume for class. It was fun surprising my students. I teach 2 sisters for an hour straight twice a week and they LOVED it. I always volunteer at the school on Wednesday while Ryan is at preschool and then I went back to help with Gabby's class party. After b-ball practice we ate dinner and went trick or treating. It was super fun. I was exhausted by the end.

We had our first game on Thursday. My girls did a great job rebounding on both sides and shooting the ball. They also played good defense. We won the game easily and the A team coach sat next to me and coached me on how to be a coach. Ha. It's good, I have a ton to learn. Next game is on my birthday. We also learned some lessons with the kids that day. Corbin had a playdate and Gabby forgot so she thought Corbin was missing and she was freaking out and after the game I saw 30 missed calls and some from my neighbor as well. That was sad and stressful. Now I'm giving a game schedule to my good friend and neighbor Rachel so the kids know they can get help from her as well next time. I didn't even hear my phone during the game. Hard lesson learned. 

On Friday night we went out with our good friends for an early birthday dinner for me. Last year we went to Kyotos a local Japanese grill and that's where I wanted to go again this year. It's my new tradition. It's so good and fun. Afterwards they came over and we played games. I love my friends.

The rest of the weekend we have been resting and resetting for the upcoming week which should be insane. I have two games this week and with daylight savings I lose an hour of work unless I get up earlier. I'm getting up at 3:45 all week this week. I'm dreading it. I want to see if it's manageable and if it's not I will try 4:15 which is what I did last winter.

Ry guy turned 5!

Pumpkins! Corbin didn't like his pumpkin so he wouldn't be in the picture. 

I dressed up for my students Halloween morning. It was fun.

Scary!

Hermione

Unicorn

All the kiddos. I forgot to take an individual pic with Ryan. He picked out an army guy costume but then wanted to wear his bat costume instead.

We went to dinner with our friends for an early birthday celebration. We went to Kyotos! It's sooo good. It's my new birthday tradition.