Glasses, Heads Visit, A Little Sick, Snow

I took Kenny and Katie to the eye doctor on Friday and found out that they both need glasses. Kenny is nearsighted, but Katie is farsighted. Because of the extra effort to focus on things up close, things far away would look more blurry for Katie. (Both she and Kenny have complained about not being able to see the board at school.) I ordered their glasses on Zenni and got them 2 pairs each, one for school and one for home.

James's parents, Anna, and Joseph arrived on Saturday afternoon. We had a fun time hanging out with them. I made both Saturday and Sunday's meats in the sous vide, and they turned out great (chicken tacos, fish and grits). Meat is so much better when it's not overcooked! I subbed for Primary music on Sunday, and I think it went well.

Monday and Tuesday, I worked with Rex. That went pretty well too. I read a whole book already this week and watched the movie. I was really tired when I got home on Tuesday, but I thought it was just from working a lot. By Tuesday night, I had a sore throat. Oddly enough, it's gone already. (I tested negative for Covid, btw.) Joseph stayed home yesterday, and he and Katie are both home today. I'm still feeling kind of tired, but as far as colds go, this one is really mild with no real respiratory symptoms.

Monday through Wednesday, we got 2 snowstorms and a foot of snow. I'm not sure how to feel about it. It's February, and the snow we already had wasn't all melted. I usually think of Valentine's Day as the "turning point" of winter where the snow starts going away, but it's going to take a lot longer now. The kids have had lots of fun playing in it, and it looks a lot better than the dead grass. Also, though it's really cold for a few days, the sun is out, which makes the snow look like glitter. I can handle that.

Just Us, Valentines, Family History

The extra kids went home on Friday night around 9. I was beyond exhausted by then, mostly mentally. Everything did go smoothly expect for getting them to sleep at night. It was the 2 youngest kids that caused all the problems, not the visitors, but they kept everyone up till almost 9 every night. It was SO frustrating because tempers started getting shorter toward the end of the week. We made it, though!

We purposely did nothing over the weekend, and it was great. We finished our first D&D campaign on Saturday night.

Valentine's Day was fun. I got a singing valentine from the high school choir. James also sent me on a little treasure hunt, where I found my chocolates and a couple of books. We had heart-shaped pizza for dinner.

It's been a little busy this week with parent-teacher conferences, doctor's appointments, and taking the car for an oil change, but everything has gone well. There is no school tomorrow, and Joseph gets to go the temple for the first time!

I've had some really good luck with family history this week. Ancestry has a lot of information that FamilySearch doesn't. It's always exciting to find new people and take them to the temple. :)

Ice Fishing, Book Swap, Extra Kids, Ancestry

Joseph and James went ice fishing Saturday morning with the young men. They didn't have any luck, which was too bad. I love fish. 

I was invited to a book swap party on Saturday night. It was super fun (Southern theme), and I came home with a book that looks really interesting. I haven't really read anything for a while, and it's made me feel a little grouchy. I always need a book and a project!

The kids' friends Ember and Ishmael came over on Tuesday after school and have been staying with us since then. Their mom had to go to WV for a couple of days and will be back on Friday around dinnertime. I definitely stressed about it a lot last week, but things are going just fine so far. They are great kids. The only "trouble" so far is getting everyone to go to sleep, but last night was better than the night before. Everyone has been getting along really well too. Tomorrow will be the biggest challenge because everyone does school at home, but we'll make it.

I'd gotten James a DNA test for Christmas, and we finally got the results. Among other things, he's 52% Swedish and Danish. I've never really looked at Ancestry much since I always have a lot to do on FamilySearch, but I think it deserves another look. I just barely realized that the hints are helpful and easy to use. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the information from Ancestry to FamilySearch without too much of a hassle. I love family history. It's my second oldest hobby aside from cooking.

Directory, Staycation, New Babies, Lewis's 5th Birthday

I got a call from my grandparents last Friday. They asked me to put together a directory of all their descendants. I have 19 cousins and have heard from 8 of them, so I'm going to have to bug some people to respond. Thankfully, I have my family's section done, so really, it's a little more than halfway done already.

We did a staycation with the kids starting on Friday, and it was really fun. We started off by going to the dinosaur museum, then got dinner at Wendy's. When we got home, we watched AFV. I played a couple of games with the older kids until 8:30 when I sent them to bed.

Saturday, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast of grits, eggs, and sausage. We then went to the bowling alley and played a game, plus did some games at the arcade. A former student gave us a free pizza. We also got giant ice creams (that were supposed to be small cones, haha), so we didn't need lunch once we got home. I made sugar cookies with pink frosting with the girls while the boys played video games in the cabin. We enjoyed a dinner of sandwiches on fancy rolls with little bags of chips. Our day finished with Spiderman 3 and movie theater candy boxes that I got for each person. I played some card games with the older kids and let them stay up till 8:30 again. It wasn't the same as going to SLC, but we had a good time.

Myles and Skyla had a baby on Sunday morning! Wade Nelson Phenix is our first nephew. So far, he looks pretty peaceful and is always asleep. I think he looks like Myles, but who really knows at this point?

Sam and Jesse had their 4th girl on Wednesday, so Therese/a Marie Head shares a birthday with Lewis. She has the most adorable chubby cheeks.

Lewis is 5! He really wanted to open his presents at breakfast, so we let him. He insisted on wearing his new Spiderman shirt and Avengers shorts (that I made for him) even though it's 20 degrees outside. We had homemade McMuffins and coconut tres leches cake, plus ice cream, for dessert. He's already put together his Lego sets and loved his new book from Grandma as well. I can't believe he's old enough to go to school in the fall, but he's really excelled at preschool and is ready.

As for me, I'm hanging in there. I still feel grumpy in the mornings, but I suspect that will right itself in about a month when we start Daylight Saving Time again and the snow really starts melting.