Monday, March 03, 2014

FAMILY LETTER 03.02.14

Dear Loved Ones:

We could just call this week the Barf Chronicles because that’s mostly what the week was about.

  Monday was peaceful enough, but we had yet another cold snow storm. We had a nice FHE straight from the Book of Mormon. We talked about how when prophets are finishing their mission, they share the things that are most important to them and often share their most powerful testimonies, just like we had heard last Sunday from the former Stake Presidency. So we read the end of 2 Nephi and talked about The Doctrine of Christ, especially relating to James’ upcoming baptism. It was nice to just read a chat by the fire.

Tuesday was a good day—play dates and visiting teachers came and got stuck in our snow drifts (I helped 3 card get unstuck Tuesday morning). That night after dinner, the boys had baths and came running down stairs to the fireplace to get warm. That’s when Niles started the barfing. Our fancy virgin carpet has been majorly defiled. Rich got the carpet cleaner while I threw up in the nearby trash can, then got the boys ready for bed. We swaddled Niles in towels (towel after towel after towel) and let him sleep between us. He was sick about every 45 minutes between 7pm and 5am, and we were so tired!

Wednesday was the day I had signed up to read in James’ class for Read Week. I had been swapping kids with other moms during the week, but I couldn’t very well take him to a friend’s house sick, so Rich arranged to stay home with Maren and Niles while I cut my class room time as short as possible. I read “The Maggie B.” by Irene Haas (my first favorite book) and hustled home, but ot before all the second graders all made suggestions about what we should name our baby boy—“James Junior! Nicholas! Fudge! Ian!” Rich got to work just after nine and Niles was just fine the rest of the day. We napped til 1pm then ran to Target and came home to start dinner and get Maren home. After dinner, Rich was getting ready for scouts, Addie for YW, and I was going to take the boys to Family Night at the library, when James started barfing. Same scenario as the night before, but at least he hit the bucket every time and never complained or whined about it. James finally fell asleep around 4am and stayed asleep til 8am and felt better.

Thursday James stayed home from school and was actually kind of helpful. I was able to get caught up on the wash and clean up Heidi’s room (it had become a bit of a sty lately and needed a mom-level deep clean, plus I needed to sort out the clothes she’d grown out of). We were glad we didn’t have to be anywhere that night! We had a yummy Shepherd’s Pie and got everyone to bed relatively early—all quiet by 8:15! I made myself a nice hot magnesium bath and took some unisom and B6 and prepared for a nice sleep. Rich climbed in bed to watch a movie while I was soaking and it looked like we’d finally get some rest. At 9:15, Heidi burst into my bathroom and threw up in my toilet. I was half asleep in the tub and very shocked! Turns out she had also been half asleep, too, rolled over and just hosed her freshly-cleaned carpet. YAY. Rich headed down to get the carpet cleaner and we set up a bed on our floor for Heidi. Addie sent me instant messages from her room where she had quarantined herself, crying hysterically because she just knew she was next, telling me she wasn’t coming out until everything was bleached and lysoled (aside: yes, in case you’re wondering, I AM looking forward to the RAGING hormones of the next five years or so with these two emotional girls; it’s in full swing up in here!). So we did the same routine as the previous nights for Heidi and she was home from school Friday, but felt fine.

Friday I kept cleaning and got ready to go to Helena on Saturday for Sam Post’s baptism and Jake’s 10th birthday. That night we finally put up some curtains in our front window! The rods came from amazon dot com Friday morning and we were so excited to get them up. We decided we will do cellular blinds in all the other windows, but I hate them in the front window. Since our heating bills are so low and our fancy silk curtains are lined, we figured we can splurge this once on pretty over practical. We waited, knocking on wood, to see if Addie would take her turn being sick on Friday night, but she didn’t! Hooray! We did, however, have a huge storm blow in overnight.

Saturday we woke up to a total white-out and plunging temperatures—I think the high was -13. We decided against going to Helena and had a big yummy breakfast, a fire, and a movie instead. Addie and I went to Margaret Baker’s baby shower for her boy & girl twins, which was pretty fun. They had to relocate it from the Strupps house out by the gun range to the church because the roads were impassable without a Hummer. The church was pretty drifted-in, too, but we had fun. Heidi was sad to miss time with her cousins in Helena, but cheered up when she realized she could go to her friend Sidney’s birthday party Saturday night. We got word Saturday night that church was cancelled—first time in 12 years!—cuz half the ward was drifted-in. Addie and I watched the live stream of the Gilbert AZ Temple Dedication celebration on my iPad—it was lots of fun, thousands of kids in the pouring rain!

Sunday we had breakfast and “home church.” We absolutely love having the Mormon Channel and BYUtv on the Roku. We watched some church history scripture stories, then some favorite old conference talks, and the April 2011 priesthood session. After lunch, we watched “Gravity” which was very intense but a beautiful movie. We skyped with Grandpa and Grandma and I worked on finishing the Ward 2013 History. We napped, dinnered, and got kids settled down, then I listened to the Oscars while I tried to finish the Ward History. I was so tired from that work that I didn’t get our family letter finished, so now it’s Monday. The sun is out, it’s 50 degrees, and the kids just got home from school all wet and rosy-cheeked. Sounds like a great start to the week.

We hope you’re all well and happy. We missed our Posties so much this weekend, but we are so happy for Sam’s good choice and hope it was a wonderful (barfless) celebration! We hope Aunt Audrey is healing well from her back surgery. Sam Layton told me there was a happy family party for Spencer Post’s and Owen Layton’s birthdays this week at Nana’s house yesterday—sorry we missed that, too! I can’t believe that Spencer is already 10 and Owen is 5…Time’s a-flyin’! Let us know how you’re all doing, we love and miss you! Love, Rich, Jamie, and Family
Addie made these invitations all by herself!

Living Room Curtains

Niles being sick 02.25

Monday morning white-out 02.24
 

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