Thanksgiving: Going on Walks

We left sunny nice weather in Denver, for pretty crappy weather in Mapleton.  With Randy still being pretty sick we didn't want to go a lot of places, so we mostly stayed home/local and went on a lot of walks.  There are horse right across the street, so the littles loved that.  

The mountains, clouds, and snow were beautiful.  

Oh how I wish they had constant access to their cousins!

 

Thanksgiving: Hanging around the Herbert's house

We  went to Utah for Thanksgiving.  This year, however, we had the wonderful privilege of staying almost the whole time at Jason's parent's house with some family members.  Due to Covid and Randy's cancer we have not had a Holiday or family get together at their house for about 3 or 4 years.  It was DELIGHTFUL and just what we all needed.  Debby is a wonderful grandmother and my mother heart could not wait for Dane and Eve to get to spend time with her, in her home.  They are planning on moving to Arkansas this summer, and I can hardly think about it without crying.  I desperately don't want them to go, but that is selfish I know.  So I am so so so glad we got to go for Thanksgiving.  

One thing we can count on with Grandma Herbert - treats! and wonderful food.  Dane was in heaven.  She  can't just give you ice cream, she keep asking, "want sprinkles?" "want whipped cream?"  "want chocolate sauce?"  Dane didn't even know those were options!

We all had non stop desserts.  Maddie took a picture of her picture perfect ice cream cone.

We played board games and cards.

We had a lot of nintendo time.  Which was fine because at least they were doing it together.

And Debby had all the teenagers cooking and baking every day.

As you can see Matt, Janina, Aaron and Liliana came from Florida and were with us the entire week.  Travis, Jeanne, Gwen, and Marcus came down from Sandy on the weekends, and Randy and Jamison (Jayden) came for a few days before and after Thanksgiving.  It was so great being with half the siblings!

Randy mostly stayed in his room.  But he came out to make pancakes for us one morning.  

Brock was in charge of making hash browns 

And uncle Travis came over to show Brock a "better way".  Brock was floored!  I love when other adults teach my kids.  It warmed my heart.

Dane LOVED being with his cousins

We held church at their home (with permission).  It was so nice to do this again.

We had some sickness issues.  Funny, it was SUCH A BIG DEAL while we were there, but I actually forgot all about it until I saw this picture and started writing about it.  I don't want to go into all of the details or emotions, but sufficeth  to say Debby and Randy hadn't considered that some of their house guests might come sick or get sick while there.  In Price Canyon Eve started coughing, a lot, and telling us "I'm sick".  By the time we got there it was clear she was sick.  They weren't comfortable with having her stay there so Jason took her to my parents house for 3 days until she got better.  Why Jason? you may ask (we switched parent's houses).  I really wanted to stay and be with Janina.  Plain and simple.  Well... while they were gone Brock fell sick.  At this point Debby realized she can't control all of it and we confined Brock to his room for 2 days, which was fine because when Brock is sick he sleeps it off.  Literally.  He will sleep for 48 hours straight.  

Janina took a picture of me playing "Spiderman" with the littles.  That is why I am making a mean face.  I am Doc Oct trying to steal the power source. 

 

Girls get a flu shot

I made appointments for my kids to get flu shots.  I usually try to do appointments like this with all 6 of them at once, but it was too hard so I booked a "girls day" and a "boys day".  It was pretty fun to go with the girls.  It seems silly to think of them as my 3 girls sometimes or 3 sisters because of the huge age gap.  But one day they will seem like the same age and they will see each other as equals.  It is pretty fun to think about.  

Anyways Eve was by far the bravest.  I did not expect how scared Maddie was.  Megan did ok, but was pretty wussy and left the room as soon as she was done.  Mads almost had a mental break down.  Eve could have cared less.  She was still recovering from her stiches. 

The "boy appointment" was supposed to be a few days later, but it kept getting canceled for a variety of reasons and never happened.  Now it is February and I think I am just going to call it for  this season.  Shhh... don't tell my girls.  

 

Stiches for Eve

We had 2 ER visits during the month of November, it was pretty ridiculous.  Eve fell at the park.  We were meeting the Rothy's at Foothills park.  We had just gotten there and were getting out of the car, eve jumped out and run up to get on the sidewalk when she tripped and hit her eye brow on the curb.  She SCREAMED (she can scream louder and shriller than any of my other kids).  I cleaned her up and calmed her down and we went down to the park.  Once we got home and i was able to really clean it up Jason and I decided she probably needed stiches.  So instead of going down for a nap, I took her to get stiches.  She was a rock start and handled it great!  It ended up being a fun bonding time in the hospital together, which was nice becasue we were there for over 4 hours. 

She became a little obsessed with her "stich" and talked about them all the time.  

 

Family Celebration

Jason wanted to reward the kids for being SO AMAZING during the fall with my broken foot and Jason's crazy work/teaching schedule.  Most days they came home from school and were put right to work either babysitting, making dinner, driving kids around, cleaning something, or anything else.  They were awesome.  Jason tried getting a feel for what they thought was a "reward" and they were not very good at identifying that, we had everything from a frosty to a new gaming system (insert eye roll).  One kid said, "go to one of those self serve frozen yogurt places but we can get as much as we want" (spoiler alert: they can always get as much as they want, but this time they wanted it to be guilt free - insert another eye roll).  Anyways, that got me thinking.  Where could we get unlimited soft serve...

 I told Jason, "what about Golden Corral?"  At first he wasn't so sure, isn't it kind of a junky place?  My kids have never been to an all you can eat buffet of any kind.  I don't think they even knew they existed.  I assured Jason that all they would notice was the unlimited ice cream and that they would love it.  We told them we were taking them out and it was a surprise, they didn't like that.  Wasn't this their reward?  Shouldn't they get to pick it?  They knew it was "my idea", which made them even more skeptical, they all have a pretty negative view of me lately and think I don't "know them".  I try not to let it deter me.  I told them to trust me, I KNEW they would love it.  And oh how right I was.  All 6 of them.  Dane and Eve loved it as much as everyone else, it was pretty adorable.  The older kids said things like "why do we ever go to other restaurants?"  "I hope a guy takes me on a date here" "This is where I am picking for every restaurant now."  It was so so  nice to have a win.  Pretty sure they all hugged and thanked Jason on the way out, I wouldn't want it any other way. :)