Ryan's Creations

I finished my job with Lewis and Clark Middle school because they already found someone to fill the position. I enjoyed that job. I think that is something I could enjoy in the future. I'm not ready to work full time though. It's fun to work with the refugee students. I was also able to teach some of the lessons which made it more fun. This week I will be doing the same thing but at an Elementary school. We will see how that goes. I think I enjoy middle school the most.

My friend Karen moved to Oregon on Friday. She came over to have dinner and hang out one last time on Wednesday. We will miss her and her little dog too! Ha.

Nothing much else going on. I'm really excited January is almost over!

It's very fun to see the different ways Ryan plays with his toys.

"Dad, I'm going to build a circle. The trains can go on it. Choo choo!"

Ry snatched my fuzzy slippers for himself. 

It's a Lama!

There was no school on Monday for Martin Luther King day. We took the kids to go visit a therapy lama. One of Scott's co-workers is training her lama to be a therapy lama. We had a fun time getting out and taking Wendell for a walk. The highlight of the day was when he managed to escape from Gabby and high tailed it as fast as he could away from us. It was hilarious. Luckily lamas are social creatures and he ran right back home with his other lama friends. 

The rest of the week was business as usual. On Saturday I went to my friends sign party. I've wanted an Idaho sign forever and I got to make one! The only problem is I really don't have a good spot for it but I don't care I made it anyway. I'm going to set up another party with more friends to make another sign. I need to get my wheels turning about what I want to make. 

We went to the women's march today. It was pretty cool. We didn't stay for very long. The kids were cold and over it! They enjoyed the elevator ride in the parking garage most.

Lewis and Clark Middle School called me (the school I did the PE job) to see if I wanted to do a 2 week sub job for them. I decided to do it. It's kind of nice to have a set routine for a bit and just work for a couple of weeks and earn cash and be done. I'll be a teacher's assistant which is awesome because it will be less stressful and less work. Ha. I'm helping in the refugee classes. It should be good. The worst part is that those kids do not wear deodorant which is really, really unfortunate. Wish me luck that the two weeks go fast and that it's not too stressful! 

Gabby's homemade unicorn headband. She wore it to school one day. Hilarious. 

I love Ryan's village creations. 

This is wear I have it for now. The best spot for it would probably be in the hallway but I really want it in the main living area. Hmmm.

Sign party. 

Gabby making her girl power poster.

Bladies Night

Jumping back into the swing of things wasn't so bad this last week. I only subbed on Thursday. I subbed extended resource room and it was tedious for sure. I feel like subbing is when time stops. Phew I made it through and that's all that matters.

My friend gave Gabby some roller blades and she has been blading all through the kitchen. She wanted to go with me and I was able to find a pair on Craiglist. They actually responded right awya (sometimes a rare thing with craigslist) and I went over and picked them up. They are a little snug but not unbearable. She had to go out that night and it was raining and dark but we did it anyway. It was fun. Corbin was sad that he was left out and I tried to find him a pair on Craigslist with no luck so I found him a pair for a reasonable price on Amazon. We are still waiting for them. In the meantime he can wear mine. We have to take turns. We've been blading in the dark all week.

Everyone in my whole giant family gathered this weekend for my niece Brynn's farewell. It was fortuitous for us to get together before Keaton and Amanda move to Illinois I think? On Friday I went to breakfast with Kelsey, Justin, and baby Emmett. We hung out until my parents came into town. Then we went to lunch with them. That was a fun yummy treat. We did our own thing the rest of the day. We met up with the Beals for early lunch at the Golden Corral. After that several of them went to the temple. I watched Emmett for Kelsey while they went. We joined the family for swimming that night. The kids had so much fun swimming. It was fun to see everyone.

There's no school tomorrow, I think we might go check out a therapy lama from one of Scott's clients. Ha.

Ryan got hurt and would not take off his band aid. Scott finally got it off him so his scrape could get exposed to air and actually heal.

Bladies Night!

These guys have been blading around the kitchen all week. Sometimes in the early morning hours before school. It's so loud!

Most of us gathered for lunch. I think we are missing some nieces and nephews. 

We took Emmett for a walk. I could only find warm girl things for him to wear. Ha.

Gabby's cupcake purse.

So cute.

Lice Strike Again.

The kids have been out of school all week. We didn't really do anything last week. On Wednesday morning while fixing Piper's hair I saw a louse move! Dang it! Piper got lice again. We must have missed some of the eggs or nits the first time. I had to warn the Utah Cannons of the terrible news. Sure enough cousin Greta got lice from Piper. Luckily they only found one louse and a couple of nits. PHEW! And even more luckily no on else got it. Double PHEW! We have been doing more lice treatments and nit picking like crazy over here. I think we are in the clear but we will keep checking everyday. I also need to keep checking at least once a week for at least a month this time. BLARG! It wasn't nearly as bad this time around. Piper was the only one with lice and she had a lot of nits but nothing like what Gabby had the first time around. Hopefully we won't have another outbreak. Fingers crossed!

Other than that nothing much going on. I am ready and not ready for the kids to go back to school and get on a routine. I'm just not quite geared up for the rat race of homework, dance lessons, piano lessons, VIPKID, subbing, all of it. I need to get ready, here it comes.

Cutest cuddles.

I put away our Christmas decorations so I was able to put up our new family picture. I love it!

Crazy Gabby hair.

I don't know the last time Ryan took a nap. He was so tired before this crash he was have some major drama! 

The girls were playing dress up and decided to dress up their brother (girl on the left is Emily, Piper's best friend).

Nice outfit choice Pipes! (You too Gabby, brrr).

Christmas Vacation

Lets see if I can catch up from our Christmas vacation. The week before Christmas I was doing Christmas dinner prep. I made rolls one day, I made cinnamon rolls another day, I cooked and de-boned  the turkey on another day. I tried to do as much ahead of time as I could.The kids got out of school on the Friday before Christmas. The girls helped me make treats to take to friends that day. On the Saturday before Christmas we met my local family and we went ice-skating. It was the first time my kids have gone. It was super fun. They blasted Christmas music the whole time. It was great. Gabby picked it up pretty quickly. Luckily they had push carts that were a life saver. On Christmas Eve we went to a church service at the UU church that I enjoyed. I watched Christmas movies all day and finished making dinner. My friend Karen joined us that night. We had a turkey dinner. After dinner we sang some songs and read some poems and played Guesstures! I was so excited to find the old game on ebay for $20! They were trying to sell it on amazon for $70. Rip! 

On Christmas morning we opened presents and had breakfast. The rest of the day we didn't do much. I was pretty tired from all of the Christmas prep and tried to relax. We just ate leftovers that day. I decided that next year I think I want to have a real dinner on Christmas day and not just leftovers. I think we will steal my friends tradition and have soup and scones. Yum! 

The day after Christmas we got packed up and headed down to Utah. That night we got to do Christmas again. We opened presents and had our gift exchange which is always a hit. We played some games after that. Wednesday was Corbin's birthday! He's 10! We checked out Harry Potter World at the mall and then we went to Air Time. After that we went to Hires for dinner and they were slammed! It was the most crowded I've ever seen it. It took them over an hour to get us our food. It was Corbin's least favorite part about his birthday. After that it was back to the house for donut reindeer and presents. 

On Thursday we went to the Sweets factory for a tour. It was actually pretty "sweet!" Later we went to the movie Coco which I loved. That night Clark hosted a casino night and we tried to win all the dough playing craps. Gordon came out the richest.

On Friday we hung around during the day and we went to the Luminara light show at Thanksgiving Point that night. It was pretty amazing! On Saturday we went a couple of museums and to lunch at the Brick Oven. We were planning on going home but we decided we were in no hurry to get home since the kids wouldn't be going back to school until the 8th. So we will be ringing in the New Year in Utah and heading home tomorrow. I have to work Tuesday morning and it will be brutal! I've been going to bed past midnight and sleeping in until after 8:00 for a week. I am not looking forward to tying to go to bed at 9:00 pm and waking up at 4:15 am, wish me luck! 

The girls helping me make friend treats.

It snowed on Friday before Christmas so we went and checked out the lights at a neighborhood by our house. 

Yummy cinnamon rolls!

Ice-World!

Here we are!

Chrtimas Eve dinner. I busted out the China. 

Yum!

I made a Christmas jello. 

Santa came!

Christmas breakfast. 

The girls got hatchimals! 

Nerf guns and light sabers!

It snowed for Christmas!!!

Gabby's present. She decorated the bag so cute I took a picture.

My brother Gabe dropped this off. So cute. Growing up my family had waffles and salmon for Christmas morning breakfast.

Ryan being silly on the drive to Utah

Utah Christmas!

Gabby made hand made presents for everyone. She made Clark a mistletoe picture. 

The boys have been having a great time playing!

Harry Potter World

We stood in line for 30 minutes to get inside and mostly it's just an overpriced store inside. Ha.

They did have this game set up inside.

Air time!

Corbin opening presents.

Rustin and Gabby making breakfast.

Colie and Rustin live next door and the kids have practically been at their house the entire trip. They've had sleepovers and unlimited snacks. It's been the best!

Piper and cousin Greta have had some great quality time this trip.

Luminaria!

Here we were waiting for everyone to finish up at Luminaria. brr. I was so cold by that point.