A little January Wrap Up

Usually David does these wrap-up posts. But Shantel is taking care of this one and what better way to start out the year than with chocolate? One Christmas Tradition that Sue does every year is she gives out boxes of chocolates. Not just any chocolates. Sees chocolates. She knows exactly what David and I like and she fills the box with all of our favorites. It's a bummer for David because I like all of my favorites (raspberry truffle, strawberry, etc..) but I also like all of his favorites.

We did a chocolate selection draft and picked our pieces. Very serious business of course.

My girls being cute: Lydia - reading a book in a tiny spot in her closet. 

Lucy- going all the way upstairs to get Caleb new pants and bringing them all the way back downstairs to give them to him. 

Meal planning. I've been using a month-long planning system for a couple of years now and I LOVE it. I usually plan out about 3 weeks at a time but sometimes I will still plan the whole month. I have to laugh because the same video my mom showed us on New Years (the one that was about how "2021 will make everything all better") also talked about buying a planner JUST for meal planning (and how having a 2021 meal planner will make everything all better). My mom and I laughed, because I totally do that and it's the best. I fall short in a lot of areas, but most days my family eats a yummy home-cooked meal, and the only way that is possible is because of this planner right here. 

Snacktime around the little kids table. 

Austin's cotton candy machine in action. 

I love the friendships between our kids. Each of them has a unique and special relationship with each of their siblings. In the photos below Caleb is pushing Lucy on his toy couch that is sitting on top of a stakeboard and calling it a "Rollercoaster." And the boys are painting with bath paint in the tub while the girls watch and offer encouragement. 

Immediately followed by a picture of the spot where Lucy bit Caleb on his cheek when he was bugging her. 

It snowed! The boys played in the backyard for a minute them I told them they could go in the front yard and shovel the driveway. They worked really hard for long time and had a blast and I was impressed that they stayed out so long. 

Lydia is becoming quite the great help in the kitchen. She has been working on a cookbook for one of her Children and Youth goals and she can make a few meals, several snacks, and a bunch of desserts. Here she is standing with her dinner rolls that she made all by herself. I'm proud of her. 

Purple Mattress!

Recently we've been discussing how we want people to always feel like they can come and stay with us. However, we also realized that our guest mattress is....well quite quite old. We received that mattress from Scott and Lori when we got married and were so grateful for it. We used it for the first few years we were married before we moved into our house. Since then it has been used as our guest bed. Scott and Lori had it for at least 15 years (if not more) and then we used it, so the bed is at least 25 years old. We are so grateful that Scott and Lori gave it to us and it was so nice. 

However, we decided it might be nice to have a more comfortable mattress for our guests. In addition, my brother Michael is going to be needing a mattress and he said he could use that one. Meanwhile, our mattress is about 8 years old. It is still good, but we'd rather move it to the guest bedroom while it is still good, rather than wait a few years until it is really too worn. All these led to us deciding to get a new mattress. 

We had a ton of discussions and looked at a lot of different things. In the end, we figured out that we don't actually like memory foam. We also really like the idea of getting to try the mattress out for 100 days to make sure we really like it. We went to the purple store (a really popular brand that just ships to your house) and really liked the bed. We also tried RC Willey, but all the beds we thought were comfortable, were at least as much as the purple mattress (or more), but without the free returns. We decided the purple mattress would be the best bet to try. We also figured out that we thought an adjustable base would be really nice to have. In particular, sometimes my breathing at night is not the best and we thought it would help to be able to raise the head. So we found a good price for an adjustable base and ordered that too. It also made sense, because with the purple mattress we were going to need a new base anyway, for at least $200, so it was only a few hundred more dollars to get the adjustable base. We were able to use the 2nd COVID-19 stimulus package money to get it. 

It finally all arrived and were were so excited to set it up. 

So far we are enjoying it, although we are withholding judgement until we've slept on it longer, but we are excited for our new mattress! 

Some photos in action:

-reading books during morning snuggles. 

-late night show watching

Lost Earring

 I lost one of my earrings when we were at the Peaden home for Christmas. I'm so sad. 

I inherited this from Blanche McAllister, David's grandma, and I felt such a connection to her each time I wore it. It's beautiful and it has long been my favorite set of earrings. 

The reason for writing about it, (other than to record how sad I am - you know I tend to dwell on how sad I am when I lose things I love - ahem, looking at you my favorite hat lost @ Multnomah Falls in 2016), is that I mentioned to Cal and Sue that I'd lost it and asked them to keep track of it if it turned up. Cal called me back a couple of weeks later telling me that he'd completely torn the house apart looking for it and then he'd spent several hours on top of that looking through jewelry websites like Etsy looking to see if he could find a matching set. It didn't turn up, but I'm just so grateful to have Cal as a father-in-law. He's kind and good and absolutely did NOT have to take the time to look so long and so diligently for something so small, but he did anyway and that's something that is quintessentially Calvin Peaden. I love him and I'm grateful that David has such a wonderful father to follow. 

Political Turmoil

Shantel came across this meme the other day and we both found it so hilarious. (Although the meme should say the Capitol, not the White house) Unfortunately, there are some truths to it that are also very sad. It has been such a crazy path the last year. Of course we have a separate post for COVID-19, but I thought it would be good to touch on these couple other things. 

On January 6 thousands of Trump supports gathered near the white house while the US Senate was planning to certify the election results at the capitol. Donald Trump continued to assert that his election loss was not true and that the election was a fraud. He instigated the group to fight against the election results and then the protestors moved from the White House to the capitol. The protest turned to a riot and then they rioters overpowered the capitol police and took over the capitol. All of the senators and congress had to be evacuated in an emergency to get out before the rioters captured them. It took hours before the National Guard came to clear the capitol and return it to the control of the US. 

It was very saddening to me. To see this kind of action in the United States, this is what you typically would see in other countries, but not here. What those people did is wrong. Unfortunately, I believe there will be more of this kind of horrible thing in the future, not less.  

The other random thing mentioned is reddit attacking Wall Street. Many big hedge funds had taken big shorting bets against Game Stock betting the stock price would go down. A group of people on Reddit decided to buy up Game Stop and push the price higher. On January 11, the price was about $20, and by January 27, it rocketed up to more than $400 during the day (closing at $347). The gambit worked and the hedge fund companies lost billions of dollars as they were forced to pay exorbitant prices to cover their stock bets. Many people made millions, many lost millions as the price jumped up and down. The reddit crowd is still going as you can see the price has bumped back up over $250. It has been a crazy thing to watch. 

I think that these are just two small examples that show the volatility, the turmoil and the signs of the times. We will just work to continue to take care of our family and serve others in the midst of all the turmoil. 

Homeschool January

I may be the only person in the contemporary world that loves the month of January. It's just so full of the possibilities of the new year combined with a deep breath of relief and quiet after the busyness of a packed holiday season.

A few highlights from this month:

-Writing thank you cards for Christmas gifts. I love to do this with my kids.

Family History Friday: 

One of our activities this month was to play a matching game with our family history plates then let all the kids pick one person to draw a picture of. Lydia picked Grandma Knowles aka Zuriel Ruth Elvin in in preparation for a more in depth lesson on our Knowles grandparents later that month, she helped shop for all the ingredients for Grandma's social chocolate cookies. I don't have pictures, but the next week we talked about Grandma and Grandpa Knowles and made those cookies together. For our FHF this year I've been focusing on one grandparent/set of great grandparents and talking about them and a little about their history. Then I try to give the kids 1-3 things to remember about them - I love hearing those tidbits pop up in our normal conversations. It's been really simple but also really meaningful. 

-100 Day of School

Celebrated with a 100 day of school party- cousin style. Counting to 100 in a dance circle, one hundred snacks, 100 physical activity challenge, writing a group story with 100 words, 100 dot art, and the 100 Number blocks episode.

(My favorite in these pictures is how clearly you can see Lydia's loop on the end of her y on her paper.)

-Austin LA Book & Movie Night

Austin finished his Level K Primer (Language Arts Coursebook) and earned a movie night with mom and dad. To be honest, his LA skills are already more advanced than this book- but I'm a believer in laying a solid foundation. The skills we practiced with this book were as much about building confidence and establishing routine as they were about introducing new LA skills. Austin is thriving in our homeschool and David and I were just talking about how amazed and proud we were of him and how well he is doing, especially compared to how hard this year could have been for him otherwise.

-Paint project from Primary Activities (formerly known as Activity Days.)  

I did an Art class elective for Austin and he only does the bare minimum even though the projects are sensory and open ended. But Lydia loves all things art and loved painting this for a distance primary activity. Because of Covid, primary activities aren't meeting - but her leaders have been really really good about dropping off activities for her to keep connected. I'm grateful for them. 

And painting on a canvas she got for Christmas using her easel from Aunt Brooklyn. 

insta-january

 Just one little lonely instagram post this month: 

{1.25.21}

Oh, hello. Is it 2021 already? What? The end of January!?
Sometimes I have so many words and thoughts and things I want to remember that I can't post anything at all.

Tonight I bear witness that the Lord is with us, aware and supporting us through our hard things.

Also, unrelated, today I have decided that it is a miracle that any parent in the history of the world has ever managed to put their children to bed every night for 18 years without going completely insane.

(There you go, this is why I haven't been posting- because these are the only things I can get out of my head.)

Also, Lucy. 😍😂 

Church --- @ Church vs @ home

What we are doing for church right now is that our ward is alternating each week; half of each ward meets in person at the Chapel for the 1st Hour and the other half watches the Sunday Worship Service remotely via technology. Immediately following the Worship Service, those at the Chapel participate in the Sacrament and those at home (where authorized by the Bishop) administer the Sacrament in their homes.


That means that we are attending church in person and having home church every other week. As I was looking through these photos it was amusing to me to see the stark differences in the two meetings.


Church @ Home
We are still getting dressed in Sunday clothes (mostly). We try to make sure our family room is clean for the Sacrament, with peaceful music playing and we sing a Sacrament Hymn from the Primary Music Book. After that, things usually relax and we end up snuggling on the couch while the kids listen/play nearby. 

Church @ Church

These kids really know how to clean up when it's time to go to Church! We went back to church for the first time since August, now that our holiday quarantine (and the lengthy lead up) has passed. We pack a sacrament meeting bag with notebooks, The Friend, small toys, and - of course- granola bars. We wear masks and aren't really able to talk to anyone else, although it always feels really nice to be worshiping with our Ward Family. 




Even though our Sundays may look different week-to-week we are blessed to have the spirit of the Sabbath with us regardless of where we are worshiping. I'm grateful for the Sacrament and the blessing that it is for us and for the way that it has sanctified our home during this special time of being able to do church at home half of the time. 

Of other note: The kids primary teachers have been amazing at reaching out and connecting with each of the kids. Lydia's teachers have started sending out videos with discussion questions and a challenge each week. Austin's teacher, Andrea Wardell, has consistently brought by coloring pages/lessons with a small toy or treat almost every week for most of the pandemic. Caleb's teachers brought him by a Sunbeam welcome kit with yellow playdoh and a yellow sucker (a Sunbeam!?), and Lucy's nursery teachers just barely brought over a little snack with a note attached. She loved it. 

I've been so grateful for those who are stepping up to fill their callings and connect with my kids so that my kids will stay connected to Primary.