Book Swap, Texas

The presidency meeting on Thursday went really well, and it was satisfying to get the nursery closet cleaned out.

Friday, we played DnD. It took a while to get to the game since we were all talking and eating snacks.

I went to a book swap at Jess's house, and it was a lot of fun. Before that, James and I went out for Chinese food and picked up some hot and sour soup to take since the theme was Chinese New Year. I've already read a couple of the books and enjoyed them a lot.

We went out for breakfast on Tuesday before James left for San Antonio. He's attending a conference on grading and squeezing in some fun things, like the Alamo.

Meanwhile, I'm holding down the fort. So far, I've finished 2 books, deep cleaned the girls' room, and stress baked a cake along with my other stuff. The kids had their first Primary activities of the year, and when I checked in, everyone looked like they were happy and having fun.

The stupid heater is having issues again. I don't know what the deal is, but it locks itself out at least once a day. I need to pay attention to it to figure out what the error code is. I woke up early because it had shut off and it was 58 in the house. Brr!

Despite that, I feel pretty calm about it and life in general. We've had lots of sunny days, a whole week now, and that's been really nice. Now if we can just get this snow to melt...

Heads Visit, Quilt

James's mom, dad, and brother Joseph came to visit over the long weekend, and we had a wonderful time. Saturday, we went swimming at the hotel pool and visited a candy shop for some treats. Melodie took Katie ice skating during the afternoon while we relaxed at the house. We watched a movie and had some pizza and homemade ice cream for dinner.

Sunday, everyone made it to church despite another snowstorm. (Ugh!) We had a nice afternoon and evening.

They left Monday right after lunch. I finished a book while James ran some errands and scraped snow off the roof (again).

We made it through a day of school before Kenny got another stomach bug. He stayed home yesterday but is back at school today. Lewis said he felt like throwing up last night but didn't, so I hope that's the end of that.

I was feeling stressed about the sickness, so I finished sewing an entire quilt for Lewis's birthday in only 2 days. It's a combination of 12" and 7" squares, and it turned out really colorful. There's a square of his old blanket from Grandma Head right in the middle. I do love taking scraps and making them into something cool and useful. I don't know what else to get Lewis for his birthday, but that's a start. He wants blueberry pie and blueberry ice cream. It's so funny because I used to eat granola with blueberries for breakfast, and that's when he got hooked on them.

I have a presidency meeting today at the church. Hopefully we can get the Nursery closet cleaned out. There is some confusion about the keys, so I hope we can get into it.

Baptism, James's 35th Birthday

I went to the church twice to practice the piano, and it made a huge difference. I was also able to meet with Sis. Hall about some questions she had.

I had my first baptism as the pres, and it went well. I was actually REALLY tired that day, but I managed to do a good job on the piano. I'd sort of lost my voice when I was giving her the gift from the Primary, but that's okay. It was a small gathering. I then went home and took a long nap during the afternoon.

Sunday, Sis. Hall and I met with all the activities leaders. I think it went really well, even though one person got stuck in the long driveway and we had to wait for her to get pulled out by a neighbor's tractor. Yep, the snow keeps coming.

James had parent/teacher conferences on Monday, so it was a long day, but we made it and even had a good FHE.

Tuesday, I took Katie to the dentist. She didn't end up needing the filling after all, so that was nice. I have 1 child who actually takes care of her teeth without my nagging first!

The guy came to fix our heater yesterday. It would randomly shut off and I'd have to manually reset it. He replaced the flame sensor, and I really hope that's all it needs. So far, so good. James and I went out for dinner.

It's James's 35th birthday today! He opened his presents already and sampled a bit of the German chocolate cake I made yesterday. I hope it will be a pretty relaxing day.

The cold wasn't too bad. The fatigue has definitely been the worst part, but I haven't slept well for the past few days. I really hate it when I wake up early for no reason and then feel tired for the rest of the day. Thankfully, that doesn't happen too often, and I always catch up again after a day or two.

This extreme winter is still making my life hard. The sun came out yesterday and looks like it might stick around some today. I'm so grateful!

New Year's, Snow, Sickness, Juliette

I eventually got caught up on Friday and managed to have a fairly relaxing Saturday. Honestly, I was still so tired from our trip that I didn't bother trying to stay up till midnight. We did enjoy our sub sandwiches, Chex mix, and eggnog ice cream, which turned out amazing. (I love it when recipes work on the first try.)

Sunday, I woke up early enough to get everything printed for Primary. Despite not having a pianist, everything went fine with passing out binders and rings. I'm glad to have them off my desk.

Monday, we took down Christmas. I organized the library to fit all our new books and even cleaned the shelves. I finished "Konmari-ing" the house yesterday, and it feels great. The sun even came out for maybe the 3rd time in the past month. We've had such a cloudy, snowy, and cold winter so far. I'm not a fan. I've had to shovel a lot since there's so much snow. We don't have walkways; we have tunnels.

Kenny and Lewis have stayed home most of the week due to stomach bug and nasty coughing. I've got a scratchy throat and fatigue, but I'm really hoping I feel better enough to do a playdate tomorrow. (Probably not. :( Samantha still has a bit of cough, and she had a little fever on Sunday night.)

Mara and Ricky had their 3rd baby on the 3rd! Her name is Juliette Cheryl, and she looks a lot like her adorable sisters. I can't wait to see her in a few months.

So far, this new year has been a little depressing due to the weather and sickness (yet again.) It feels like it's never going to end. I know it will, and in the meantime, thank goodness for cough drops and Gatorade.