In which mike tries to insert a video unsuccessfully
We finished up the Twelve Days of Christmas this week and are heading into Carnival season, where we plan a party every week to head off the intermitability of January and February. We got out of the habit during the lockdowns from COVID, so hopefully we'll do a good job this year. It really is helpful with the February blahs.
Last Sunday the power went out on the other side of the ward, so the Plastow kids came and built an amazing snow fort and played with our kids. Amy and Dave came over for dinner and we invited them to spend the night if their power didn't come back on. It did come back, but the kids were all excited about having a sleepover, so Logan, Dustin, and Brooklyn spent the night.
Monday we had our annual New Year's Day game day. Becky and Chauncey's family came, and we had a wonderful time playing The Scarlet Pimpernell. The girls actually got invited to hang out with their friend Marissa from Sandy in the morning, and our new backdoor neighbors had a birthday party that night, so it was a very busy social day for our kids. We had fun.
Tuesday we sort-of-kind-of started up school again. It was a bit challenging to get back into the groove of things, so we didn't do a perfect job. But Timmy worked very hard to review the reading he's done so far this year. It is really impressive how much progress he's made! Just today, we pulled out a book from his old reading program that was impossible for him a year ago, and he read it no problem! He was very proud of himself and read it to Gideon next, and then recorded a video of himself reading it. We are so proud of him and going to have a goal day party this week!
Here is a link to the video: Link
We're also having a goal day party for Boo; for the past two weeks, she has only pooped in the toilet and we haven't had to change a single dirty diaper. She's finally taking off her diaper when she gets home, rather than keeping it on and pooping in it. We hope she'll actually get to where she can wear pants at home, but at least she's using the toilet without fail as long as she's in dresses.
For our last Twelfth Night activities, we made fudge and delivered it to our neighbors and friends. And we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Mickey's Christmas Carol. I don't think we'll do one Christmas film each night next year; it didn't work as well as we'd hoped. We'll just do a movie marathon day.
Wednesday Rea went to a seminary activity for Young Womens and had a lot of fun. We had a talk about what she's going to do for seminary in a couple years; we haven't figured it out yet, but we'll see. She'll start taking more and more classes at schools and things soon; she'll be in jr high next year and can enroll in theater at school while being homeschooled. That will be so fun.
Thursday we celebrated Twelfth Night, and Timmy got the crown! We built a huge blanket fort and listened to an audiobook and had popcorn and played video games. It was fun. We were supposed to have our new friends the Wilsons over for dinner on Friday, but they were sick, so we dropped off a meal for them and rescheduled for next week. Timmy wants that to be the first Carnival party and to have banana bread, so we're looking forward to that.
The kids invented a new game called balloon tennis. They put a wall (a mat balanced on end on top of a bench) in the middle of the room and hit the balloon back and forth over the wall. If the balloon hits the ground on one side, the other side gets a point, and they play to 5 points. They have been loving this game and playing it often.
Friday Mike and Alison watched one of the Jackie Chan movies Mike got for Christmas for their date night. It was very funny. The kids sometimes hung out nearby, but they weren't allowed to cuddle with us so that it really felt like a date. :)
Saturday we all walked over to the new backdoor neighbors' house and Mike and Alison met their dad. He seems nice, and we want to hang out with them more. Sara is already great friends with Alyssa, and we're hoping Rea will find a good friend among the older girls (there are three of them) and Timmy and Gideon will play with James, who is Timmy's age but they didn't instantly become friends. We went to Later in the day, we went to the library and Sara found a new book series that she loves! She's read the first four books already, in less than a day. We also did food shopping and clothes shopping (for Alison), and had time to play.
Amy bought some transparent filament and asked Mike to design and print some tools for printing. It turned out very cool, even though we don't understand exactly how it works. She is happy, so that's good.
Today after church we had FHE for the first time in a while and we decided to set goals for the new year. It went fairly well, and most of us are excited about our new goals.
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