January is Coming to a Close

 I fear I'm falling behind again. We've been keeping busy with just the normalcy of life with a bit of the spice of life thrown in here and there. It's never a dull moment around here, which is a great thing!

Myles has been begging to get his hair cut; this is a new concept. He has always dreaded getting his hair cut and has enjoyed being on the shaggy side. Friday night, while Chris and the girls were at the temple the rest of us took him over to help him look more presentable. He was absolutely thrilled that he didn't have to wait any longer. He really liked the lady who cut his hair this time around. She seemed to know what she was doing and what she was talking about. Trying to get a picture of him with his new do was virtually impossible. He is such a jokster, but I did catch a nice one with a smile. He was laughing because he was making me laugh, and I snapped a picture really quick!

Aeva gave a talk in church last Sunday. It was the talk she was supposed to give for Thanksgiving, which she had volunteered for months in advance. It was on gratitude. She had gotten really sick during Thanksgiving, and it took her a couple of weeks to fully recover. I think she was thinking they would never get around to her talk now that we're into the new year. She did such an amazing job!! I  get a little emotional thinking and talking about it because there at the pulpit I got a glimpse of our old Aeva. Our Aeva before depression and anxiety. I had wondered if we'd ever see that Aeva again. It has been a long road for her to get to where she is now; She has come so far, and worked so hard, and has had a lot of people helping, and rooting for, her. We have been seeing more and more glimpses of that happy, smiley, confident, and spunky girl.

 

The girls and Chris went to the Portland Temple Friday night, and then Chris and I went early Saturday morning. This picture tells you it was early............I look tired, although I was also on my toes trying to see above Chris's arm so I'd be in the picture. It was absolutely wonderful to be there. I saw a lady I worked with about 13 years ago. It was fun to chat with her for a bit. I love how when you go to the temple it always seems like a family reunion :)

The girls had wanted to stop by the Goodwill last week on their way home from school. The kids and I entertained ourselves with butcher paper I had in the car while we waited. We made balls out of it and threw them at each other, and then Myles made himself a turban out of the paper.

 

Aeva found this cup that she really liked, and Rhaevyn bought it for her. We've been trying to look it up, but we haven't been able to find any information on the internet about it.

Aeva has been branching out and drawing animals lately.

Elsa made waffles for us one night for dinner.

Myles made lunch for his siblings one day.............cheese and pepperoni croissants.

Elsa and Meg were playing dress up. Meg was a version of Cinderella, and here she is dusting the furniture in her bedroom.

Rhaevyn threw a tea party for the little girls, but Myles and Aeva decided they wanted to be a part of the tea party too. All dressed up and ready for tea, cookies, and pepperoni, cheese, and crackers.

Aeva putting on her snobby face for the tea party, but it didn't last long........

Myles wants to carve a bird out of wood. Sister Lee's husband said he'd work with him on it, but he had to make a model out of clay first to show what he wants as his end result.

Elsa helping to do Meg's hair.

The kids love to entertain each other by making slow motion videos and then leave them for me to find.  Ahhhh, it's little gems like these that make me laugh so hard. I love them for it!!!!

Our Sunday movie last week was The Music Man. I have one album on Spotify that is strictly songs from musicals. I had added several songs from The Music Man, and the  kids really liked them. They decided that they really wanted to see the movie, so Aeva ordered it from the library. They absolutely loved the movie!! It was so fun to see them laughing while watching it. Meg's favorite song is Shipoopi,and Myles's favorite is Marian the Librarian. He has been singing it over the past week, and Chris got it the other night and recorded it while Myles was in the shower.

Here we are; the end of my post. We shall see what await us for this week. Until next time............

An Update Overdue

Now that the Christmas post has been put up it is time to catch up on everything since then.
We've had a lot going on: back to school for the littles, winter quarter for Rhaevyn and Aeva, a calling for Rhaevyn, Meg being sick, and just life in general.
In the interest of time, this post will not be in order.....

My third quilt for this round has been finished at the quilters, and now I really must get down to business and put the binding on all three quilts.

 Rhaevyn attended the Young Single Adult New Year's Eve Ball. I wasn't home, so I made sure Chris took pictures for me.

 

 
 
Poor sick girl. She just can't seem to catch a break. She seems to relapse just when we think she is on the mend. She hasn't been to church in several weeks.

 Napping with Daddy and Molly.
 
 Bath time for Molly while I play dog groomer.................she is now nicknamed Mullet Molly. Ya, I should not play dog groomer, lol!

 I noticed all of a sudden that Myles went through a growth spurt, and his church pants were looking like high-waters. I also noticed some holes appearing in the waistband. Off I went to get him new pants. I brought new pants home and although they had the elastic with the buttons to cinch the waist, they still were falling off of him. I waited to take them back until the next day since I was going to be getting together with my best friend. For three dollars less than I spent on his original one pair of pants, at the same store, I got him pants that he really likes and that fit (yay!!) and this cute little outfit for Meg. It's awesome when you have a friend that shares her coupons with you :)

Rhaevyn and Myles made swords and then went to the playground to battle it out.

 Myles decided to make chocolate chip cookies last Sunday all by himself. Everyone loved his end result.

 Molly and Meg; they have a bit of a love hate relationship. They usually have contests of staring each other down, or who can growl at the other the longest.

 They called a truce at this point.....


 
 Aeva bought a little birdhouse and painted it.

 
 Elsa and Myles had fun with the watercolors last week:

 This was Myles's painting:

Christopher's glasses finally came in.  I thought it fitting to take a picture of us with our glasses on. We are practically twinners with the frames and progressive lenses :)

Myles has been busy making lots of Lego creations. This was one of them:

Rhaevyn and I love to go to the Goodwill together. She is always on the lookout for teacups and a teapot. She has not been able to find anything that tickled her fancy in that area or that have been at a price she is willing to spend. However, that all changed on Monday morning. She finally found THE teapot. It is so her!! It came with a sugar bowl and a creamer. While she was working Monday afternoon I looked it up on line. This sweet little set is handcrafted in Scotland. She paid $13 for the set. The teapot alone sells for 99 pounds, which is almost $140 in American dollars. The creamer and sugar bowl sell for about $75 together. What a find!! She just wishes that there had been teacups for it.

She also found two Japanese books at the Goodwill, one being a Japanese fairy tale and another just a cute children's book. She gave the latter one to Aeva. Here is a little video of Aeva reading it to Meg as we were getting ready to head out the door to take the girls to their classes on Tuesday. The quality isn't great because it had to be resized to upload to the blog.

I played a card game with my best friend and her family at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was so much fun that I decided to get it. It took me a bit of looking to finally find it, but now I have the kids hooked on it!

Tuesday we spent a bit of time at the library. The girls usually stay at the college from 9:15am-2:30pm, but Aeva wasn't feeling well. I told her that Rhaevyn, the littles, and I would hang out at the main Vancouver  Library and come pick her up when her Japanese class was over, and then we would drop Rheavyn off for her choir class. The littles had a blast on the third level which has a huge play area.

Then we went all the way to the top. It was so nice to see the sun out.

Jump for joy kids!!

It was still a bit chilly out, so we came home to some hot cocoa.

Myles loves playing his cello and having Meg sing along with him...........

I was so excited to get this picture of my cute nieces in the matching skirts that I made for them. These are my favorites by far that I have made so far. I had so much fun making them and picking out the colors.

Rhaevyn and Aeva wanted to stop at Craft Warehouse on their way home from their fist day of winter quarter classes. The little girls passed the time playing with the displays there......

 

 

The older girls are settling into their classes this quarter. I think it was a bit overwhelming at first, and they are definitely keeping busy with the workload for those classes. Rhaevyn is super excited that she will get to go to Vancouver British Columbia, Canada on spring break with her choir class. All expenses are paid. She just needs to get her passport. I, on the other hand, am scared to death. Letting go is so hard!!!!

Rhaevyn is teaching the four year old Primary class at church. She has Meg's class. That is exciting. 

Myles is now almost as tall as I am. I can't believe it!!! 

I am sure I am forgetting things that took place over the last couple of weeks, but I cannot seem to recall anymore than I've put down so far. I will try and do a better job of keeping things current.