2•26•2017

I spent most of Sunday and Monday in bed with a terrible cold. James had the entire week off for February break, and it was pouring rain for the first half of the week. The kids watched a lot of TV and spent a good amount of time annoying each other.

On Monday I decided to do a little President's Day lesson and printed out some silhouettes of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln for the kids to paint. They did a really great job keeping themselves clean and were pretty creative!  After the paintings were dry we cut them out and pasted them to colorful paper for an Andy Warhol inspired work of art. Then we had a picnic in the living room and watched Zootopia for the millionth time. Or maybe it was Minions. I can't remember. It's all the same.

On Tuesday we had, you guessed it, more rain. I took them down to the gym with me and gave them fruit snacks while I ran. They were pretty good for the most part. The kids were stir crazy when we got back to the apartment, so we built a blanket fort in the living room and had another picnic lunch before I lost my patience they took their naps.

Wednesday brought clear skies! We walked to Starbucks for breakfast and went to Target. We could walk around Target for hours. Actually, we probably did. It felt so good to get out of the house. These two love each other, but the sibling rivalry runs deep. The missionaries came over to give James the 2nd discussion. This kid continues to surprise me with his perception of the gospel and his tender spirit.

Paul had Thursday off of work, so he took me to get some glasses, finally. I was able to commit to some that weren't too horrible on my face and am looking forward to seeing clearly soon.  We visited a produce shop next to Trader Joe's and discovered some really great deals, and some interesting produce that we were pretty unfamiliar with. We had lunch at The Habit Burger (hands down my favorite burger joint lately) and went home for a family nap.

When we woke up it was time to get ready for Disney on Ice! The local library was giving out kid's tickets to Disney On Ice in exchange for them reading 4 books. You bet we took them up on it! We had an absolute blast. It was the highlight of the week, and probably the whole year so far. Watching Amelia's face was almost better than the show itself, and it was pretty good! Amelia was singing along to the whole thing! It was adorable.

On Friday James finally had baseball practice. All his previously scheduled practices were cancelled due to the rain and extreme flooding conditions here in San Jose.  Paul dropped me and Amelia off at the mall for a mommy/daughter date during their practice. We shared a pretzel, and shopped for sandals for her. It's funny to watch her develop her own style and preferences. She tried on a million pairs of sandals and said no to everything-sandals I was so sure she'd love. She finally picked out some very sparkly, bling-y sandals. I love spending time with my little girl!

Asleep in the car.

She has quite the collection of sunglasses.

We headed to Costco as soon as we woke up on Saturday. I spent the day preparing food for the week. James had more baseball practice and we watched Arrival together before going to bed.  It was a great week, but now it is back to school and schedules.

Conversation Highlights of the Week:

Amelia Commentary while watching Disney's Snow White for the first time:
"What she doin' to those vegetables?" (poisoning the apple)
"That lady is crazy. She got problems;" "That little boy is named 'dog' a hahahahaha! Dats a terrible name;" "Why dat little boy so grumpy? Maybe he just needs a nap;" "Snow White don't want to go in dat old lady's house. But she do like apples. You must eat dat apple, Snow White!"

Mom: My dad's birthday is next week. Paul: yeah, I saw that. 61. James: Wow! That means he was born in the 1980's!

Amelia: I'll be 900 when I'm mom's age!

Until next week...

2•19•2017

The rain can stop now.

Last weekend James' Little League team met up at a local pizza place. Everyone introduced themselves and signed up for various volunteer positions. Paul is assistant coaching on top of his already insane schedule, but seems to really love it. I spent a good part of the weekend searching for some new specs, but came up empty handed. I really need to pick something soon because I'd love to see clearly again!  Amelia was a great little glasses assistant. She followed me around with several pairs of colorful and unflattering frames to try on. She kills me.

As you're no doubt aware, Valentine's Day was on a weekday. A school night, even. Paul and I opted for simple. Amelia and I picked out flowers over the weekend so that he wouldn't have to choose from the funeral variety of leftovers during the week on his way home from work. Amelia LOVED "her flowers." In fact, when I threw them away today, she cried her heart out.

 

As it turns out, the only day that worked out for the missionary discussions was also Valentine's Day. Since we hadn't really planned on doing much anyway, we went ahead and signed up to feed them.  Amelia helped me make a big breakfast for dinner. We had pancakes with whipped cream and heart shaped strawberries, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits. Amelia insisted on helping with the eggs. I'm using the Montessori method with her and sometimes it requires letting go and letting her make messes so that she can gain the skills to not make messes. 

Behold the Valentines that James picked out for his class. I tried to convince him to pick ANY other set. I mean, really. Love is a battlefield? Really?
Apparently in 2nd grade it is.

Amelia was busy making Valentines for all of us this week, too. After her designs were all dry (there were massive amounts of glue involved), she would bring me a marker and have me help her write her name, which she would double check was spelled correctly before approving and gushing over the finished product.

I make Valentine's Day goody bags for my kids, and since we were having the missionaries over, we decided it would be nice to do the same for them. Amelia painstakingly made them each a card and insisted that they open them right away. Sparkly pom-poms went flying everywhere but they were very appreciative.  

The first discussion went great! James surprised us with actual conversation that didn't primarily consist of "good" and "I don't know." :) At one point the missionaries were talking about the original 12 apostles and couldn't remember all of them. James said that he knew that there were two Jameses. The missionaries seemed doubtful so we googled it and sure enough he was right! He was fist bumping and confidently exclaiming that he knew it the whole time. #schooled.

This week Paul had to take a few work associates to a Shark's game. I know, rough life. His company has season tickets and they take turns giving them to different contractors and employees families. We got to go in January and it was seriously so much fun! 

James had several practices and Paul says that his skills are improving daily! For those of you who don't know, James has had some motor skill delay and baseball has been the perfect occupational therapy for him! I can't believe how much he's grown. He's turned into a bookworm, too. I love that about him. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of reading. Right now he's completely sucked in to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. He brought home some Guiness Book of World Records books last week from school so he's been did-you-knowing us all week :)

On Friday a huge storm system hit the Bay Area. It was the most horrible walk to school I think we've ever had. James said that he had never been more excited to get to school in his whole life! The winds were reaching 45 mph and our umbrellas were rendered practically useless. After struggling to manage the BOB and the umbrella for half a mile, I finally just put the umbrella away and ran home. I pretty much instantly had a cold from that point on. About an hour after I had showered all the rain off, the school called to inform me that the power was out, and could we please pick up our student. You can imagine how thrilled I was. Luckily, Paul got the same call and picked him up on his lunch break so that I didn't have to go back into it. I've been sick in bed ever since.  James has this whole week off for February break and it's looking like more rain and colds for everyone. It seems like every single time James has some time off, we all end up sick. Hopefully we can make the best of it.

Until next week...

2•8•2017

Last week was another busy one. Paul has recently been swamped with work and has had to work many late nights, and weekends. This week certainly reflected that.

James had Monday off of school thanks to some faculty event. We celebrated the break with sleeping in and stacks of heart-shaped french toast. After decorating the house for Valentine's Day, we walked to Target for lunch. James got some new shoes (his 3rd pair since school started!) from Marshall's, and we finished the day with popcorn and a movie.  It was a gloriously sunny and warm day. I am missing it already.

Tuesday was back to schedules as usual. James had his first field trip of the year. He went to see a play, that turned out to be a puppet show. His response was "that was unexpected." Indeed. He had a good time though and didn't seem to mind the puppet version of Aladdin one bit. This time I remembered to pack him enough snacks to carry him through the whole trip. A grievance once made by his mom and never forgotten. It rained the rest of the week.  I never thought that I could tire of rain when I was younger and living in a desert wasteland. But now I'm just sick of it.

We had the missionaries over for dinner on Friday. Paul picked up some Costco pizza on his way home from work and we enjoyed talking to the young elders. They get younger every year. When they asked Amelia what her name was, instead of just saying Amelia, she spelled her name while finger-spelling (ASL) "A-M-E-L-I-A." The missionaries were confused. I laughed.  James is going to be starting the missionary discussions in preparation for his upcoming baptism soon! When they asked him if he'd like to take the discussions he paused and put his finger to his chin in contemplation. Paul and I looked at each other. The longer he pondered, the more convinced I was that he was going to say no. But after torturing me with his silence for what seemed like forever, he finally said "yeah, I'd like that." *facepalm*

Paul had to work on Saturday and Sunday this week. On Saturday the kids and I finished up our morning chores before heading to the library. We tried navigating through the book sale, but it was total chaos. Both of my kids love the library. They've spent one day a week there since they existed. I'm so glad that our current home library is much nicer than the one in Hanford. After the kids got their fill of library time and picked out a billion books, I took them to lunch at...Target. We spend so much time at Target. But it's within walking distance and we are pedestrians until Paul gets his next promotion (hopefully soon!).  It started to rain right as we got to the store, so we walked around and looked at everything for a couple of hours before Paul got off work and picked us up to run our Saturday shopping errands.

Paul worked on Sunday and left us quite without a car on yet another rainy day. So we stayed in bed for the morning and then we got ready for the Super Bowl and made a bunch of food.  I love the Super Bowl. Commercials, good food, and the LAST FOOTBALL game I have to watch for a few glorious months.

 Until next week...

1•29•2017

 January recap.

Amelia turned 3 on the 8th. It seems like yesterday that she was born. I think it will always feel like yesterday.  I took her out for a mommy/daughter date at the mall. She picked out a bunch of little trinkets from Claire's (the "best store in the world"). Then we headed to Party City for balloons. My kids get their own balloon bouquet on their birthday every year. It's a tradition that they love and I hope they'll remember.

This year I made her a pink Frozen cake since she's obsessed with both pink, and Frozen.
We got her a Frozen playset, and an Elsa outfit complete with shoes, dress, and jewelry! She LOVED her birthday. She was excited about it for weeks and would stare at the wrapped presents in awe.

We facetimed with Grandma and Pee-pa and facebook video chatted with Aunt Rosi when Amelia blew out her candles and opened her presents. 

In January we got 4th row tickets to a Shark's game from Paul's employer. It was so fun! I'd never been to a hockey game before and I have to say, out of all the sports, it's my favorite to watch.

 Right before the game began, a lady came up to warn me that we were sitting in a "high puck zone." My main objective after that was to watch the puck and shelter Amelia's face. Luckily no one was hit, but the guy in the row in front of us took a puck home. The kids had soooo much fun. Every time we scored, Amelia would climb up on my legs and bounce and scream. James was like a wild animal. Paul and I just observed the crazy and soaked in their happiness. It was a super fun evening!

And then Amelia got sick. Really sick. She was sick for 10 miserable days before she finally told us that her ears hurt and we took her to the doctor. 

 One double ear infection. 10 days of antibiotics later and she was back to her old self.

 January also marked the 100th day of 2nd grade! Instead of a 100 days project, this year the kids got to dress up like old people.

 

Until next week...

Happy New Year! 2017

Paul was still sick on New Year's Eve. He went to bed considerably earlier than everyone else. The kids were completely wired and excited. Amelia missed the first few fireworks that were visible from our apartment, and she was insistent on seeing fireworks. So I walked outside with her wrapped in a blanket and we searched the sky for a good thirty minutes before giving up. She then proceeded to talk about how she didn't get to see fireworks until 2 am. And then again for days afterwards. She is still reminding me now that she didn't get to see fireworks.

Right after the ball dropped. These crazy kids were so excited to make lots of noise late at night. Apartment living has kept them a bit stifled.

This year we have set a lot of goals both individually, and as a family. I'm excited for a fresh start and and am looking forward to all that this new year promises! Happy New Year!

December

December was pretty well documented in pictures, so get ready!

We launched our Christmas festivities with our annual North Pole Breakfast. I love this tradition. Snowflake the Christmas elf always shows up and we have a pancake breakfast. I usually get the kids some Christmas socks and bring out their Christmas pillowcases and Santa hats. It's a fun little tradition we've been since we lived in Utah.

We spent December participating in the LDS church's Light the World initiative. It was a lot of fun to get the kids involved in service.

Here are some of the things that we did for that:

We made banana bread to give away to friends.

We donated glasses to help others to see.

We made Christmas cards for sick kids.

James carried a backpack full of canned food to donate to his school's food drive.

We wrote letters to the lonely, gave hot chocolate to the homeless, donated shoes, and helped each other clean our rooms.

We donated toys to kids in need.

For every act of service, the kids added a star to this tree. By the end of December it was covered in stars!

In December we took a trip to a Christmas tree farm in Half Moon Bay. It was a lot of fun! The kids played in a bouncy house (their favorite), rode ponies, fed animals, and ran around like crazy. It was a beautiful sunny day.

Amelia's pony was not interested in giving pony rides. It kept turning around and was quite difficult. But she didn't seem to notice so I guess it didn't matter.

James was disappointed that his pony wasn't a little more adventurous. He said that he would have preferred a bucking bronco. Of course.

Amelia insisted on feeding the goats one piece of goat feed at a time. Eventually the goats got sick of this and they snatched the entire cup from her hands. I'm pretty sure they ate the cup.

This year we stayed home for Christmas, so I made a big deal of the kids buying presents for each other and they both did a great job of wrapping them! It was fun to watch their excitement in giving to each other. Amelia was so excited that as soon as we got home from our shopping trip, she ran up to James and exclaimed, "James! I got you cars! Are you so excited!" Astonishingly, James didn't even hear her and was trying to guess what she got him. 

Each year we buy a new Hallmark ornament. It's a tradition that my parents started the first year they were married. They have been putting a new Hallmark ornament on their tree for 36 years now! This year we chose a little lighthouse because we visited so many lighthouses in 2016.

 And of course we did some holiday baking! We made persimmon cookies like Grandmom used to make, divinity like Grandma Willardson used to make, and we held an impromptu cookie day via video chat with my sisters. We also made a little village of gingerbread houses. I should've weighed myself before Christmas to see how bad the damage was.

When I was growing up our family would always go for Christmas lights drives. We always take our kids and this year we found this great house! They really go all out. As long as we are here in the Bay Area, I'm sure we will be going back!

Another tradition that I loved when I was growing up that I've passed down to my kids is the chalkboard countdown! I remember we would all take turns writing on the chalkboard and it was basically the most exciting thing EVER.

And of course, we took the kids to see Santa. Amelia wasn't afraid at all. James asked for a Hatchimal and Amelia asked for a pink kitty toy. Santa obliged.

And this just made me laugh. Whenever Paul took charge of the Elf on the Shelf I was always in for a surprise. Usually a surprise that required clorox wipes to clean up.

Amelia looked forward to her Christmas tracing pages each day.

Unfortunately, Paul and I caught colds two days before Christmas and were as sick as can be on Christmas Eve. We had a quick little family "party" where we ate all the traditional Willardson family Christmas foods and played some games, did a small gift exchange and the kids opened their Christmas pajamas. I had the hardest time getting them to go to sleep and I was soooooo tired and sick, but look at their cute faces? #worthit

Hatchimals sold out in October. I was not prepared. Instead I spent the whole month of November tracking nowinstock.com, sending Paul to stores, and checking online inventories. Eventually I stood in line with Rosi to get this little guy. James was a very happy boy Christmas morning. 

And then after a nice long Christmas break of recovery and rest, we had our last meal at The Habit Burger before starting our New Year's Diet. 

It was a wonderful month filled with many memories that I hope the kids will cherish someday.