Sad, crazy, fun, and yucky

Lots of things happened this week.

Sad things:

-My friend Marian's oldest son died, so very very sad.

-My mother-in-law fell down her stairs (hardwood, ouch!) and fractured her skull.

She has been in the ICU for 5 days now, but I think she's being transferred to a regular room soon. She had to have a craniotomy due to the swelling in her head. Half of her head is shaved and she really hasn't been awake enough to answer many questions. We are happy that she is out of the woods medically and continue to pray for her quick recovery. Such a sweet lady.

Crazy things:

-Gillian, Drew, Gavin. Need I say more?

Fun things:

-We went to Stevens pass Thursday night to night ski, spent the night in the camper. Peays borrowed their parents camper and did the same. We skied from 10am -9pm on Friday (kids had no school.) The snow was so good and my legs are so tired.

Yucky things:

-Gillian woke up at 4am and barfed on our bed 3 times and continued throughout the rest of the morning.

-I woke up feeling gross and slept a majority of the day. Still no vomit for me. Hopefully I am in the clear and I was just nauseas for the day.

-When I finally got out of bed my house was a disaster.

Three tears

Why do I find this little girl so irresistible? For one, this is a picture that grandma Patsy snapped a few years ago when she asked Gillian, Mary, and Drew to have a smiling contest in the bathtub. Gill was not happy, just pretending. She also says the funniest, cutest things. Joelle took Gillian, Isabelle, and Lily to see the Tooth Fairy movie on Friday and it was apparently a tear jerker. Gillian told Joelle that she had three tears during the movie at the sad parts. She even suckered me into snuggling her in her twin sized bed last night and I woke up in the morning with her cute little hand on my chest, still snuggling in her bed. When I started to get up she said "I love you mom" and my heart just melted. Corny, I know! But she's just got me wrapped around her little finger.

We had fun skiing on Friday night. Gavin had a scout campout and Gill was at the movie with Jo so we just had Drew, Bryan, Jaxon, and Natalie. Bubs also came with Evan and Sophia. Smaller group than usual and much less hectic. My legs are pretty thrashed from the morning spin class, working out every day this week, and an evening of telemark skiing. Then, to really finish off my legs for good I went for a run yesterday. I haven't gone for a run in a year due to my crazy hip problems but I just had to try. Ended up doing 4 miles with Joelle and I can even walk today without too much pain! Woohoo! Looking forward to more running, skiing, weight lifting this week. And snuggling with my little people of course!

Whine and ye shall receive

I am pretty sure that all my whining about the weather lately brought me a rare sunny sky yesterday. And I think there may be more in my future this week! Woohoo! I know it seems silly to most, especially my husband, but it makes a big difference for me. There is a blue sky out there! You know it's bad when the native children here think that the sky color is gray and that the clouds are blue. "No mom, the sky is gray and there are little blue clouds" said my friend's son Tyler. But yesterday I got more than just one little peek of blue cloud. Glorious.

Gray gray gray

It seems like I am surrounded by gray here. And although I like the color gray I wouldn't mind a yellow sun and a blue sky.

Here is a list of all the many shades of gray here in Bothell Washington:

-Sky

-clouds

-rain

-asphalt

-trees (seem gray)

-fog

-mist

-my walls are grayish green (my fault)

-Am I complaining too much???

The thing is is that it's just a long dark winter here. It goes on forever. Dark all day and then night comes and you realize you haven't really had any light for hours, days, weeks sometimes. I know that I'm being overly dramatic, but it's a big deal for a California girl.

Enough of that!

We went skiing on Friday night and had a good time. Gillian and her cousins rolled down the snowy hill as if it were a grassy hill on a summer day.

There is a guy in our ward who teaches guitar. Drew had her first lesson on Saturday. He only charges $20 and he's even going to take on teaching Gavin on his bass guitar. When Drew found out that we will be spending $40 on Saturdays on lessons she thought that maybe we shouldn't do lessons because then she will surely never get a horse. Silly girl.

Hanging in there

I'm sitting at home ALONE at 12:45 pm. Life is good. Drew was at home yesterday with a sore throat. It's been a long 3 days but they're all back and school and Darren is feeling much better. And I remain remarkably unscathed by all the germs. The kids have been very clingy, especially the girls. I kind of like it though. The days will soon be gone that I can hold Gillian and make pancakes at the same time. I'm hanging on to these last few months while I can still hold her and walk around. Can't I just freeze her at this age forever? There's no chance of picking up Drew and there's really no chance of picking up Gavin.

Gillian has her own kid to carry. She is named Bella.

Plague

The weekend went well enough, no drama. However, I did have to teach Darren's Gospel Doctrine class on Sunday while he was at an implant course. He sort of tricked me into it because I didn't think it was right for him to call someone to sub the day before. But it all went well and I almost even enjoyed it. THEN.....

I awoke yesterday morning (Monday) at 5am to the sound of Darren barfing in the bathroom. Noooooooo!!! I hate nothing more than vomiting! A sense of impending doom came over me all at once as I pictured the next several day cleaning up kids vomit, because surely it would spread. Gillian stayed home with a stuffy nose and cough. Snot I can handle, vomit not so much. Gavin wouldn't get out of bed this morning because he said he feels gross. Just waiting, waiting, waiting.... He hasn't gotten up yet but I'm afraid he's going to continue the

barf-o-rama. The mind is a powerful thing so I will say this: I do not feel nauseated right now, I am going to spin class at the gym and then I will clean and disinfect my house all while feeling excellent, and Gavin will awake wanting to go to school and give me a massage. (Ok, that may be asking a bit too much).

Date night round 2 and fireproof kids

It was Gilli's turn today. She chose to go to the mall to shop, eat lunch and go to Red Mango. All of this on a beautiful rainy Seattle day.

WHY did they have to put this tag on Drew's new pj's?! Now she won't wear them because she is convinced that she will catch fire.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

Loving the easy lazy Sunday with my puzzle

Gillian's puzzle

And the family playing Mario Kart on the Wii

Date Night

It has been a while since I took the kids out individually and since Gavin spent the day with Darren doing guy stuff I decided to start off the new year with a date with my darling Drew. Gillian was of course not okay with this even though I promised her, even pinky promised her, that she would be next. And Drew being the sweetheart that she is told her that she would bring her back a surprise from the mall. With her own money she bought Gillian a little princess doll from the Disney store. Man, that girl just melts my heart sometimes!

We started off the date with a real haircut from Tara at Hairmasters. Usually it is I who cuts their hair, but I'm not very good with layers and she wanted layers. She was so excited afterwards and said "I hope I don't hurt your feelings mom but I like Tara's haircuts better than yours." No offense taken, Tara is after all a professional. We did some returns at the mall, had dinner, got Gillian her surprise (which I told Drew she didn't have to get), and shopped until Drew found a sweater that she liked and bought. Fun night. Now I realize that there needs to be more one on one date nights with my sweet children.

Christmas break and Snow Campering

What a busy busy and non-busy week. Lots of "this is the worst day ever" 's from Gillian just because we weren't entertaining her every waking moment of the day. But they all had a great Christmas day. Gillian got her doll, Drew her DSI and Gavin a bass guitar. Drew had convinced herself when she saw the big guitar box that there could be a baby horse and bale of hay in that huge box. Wow, that girl is obsessed, wonder where she gets it from. We had our annual Christmas breakfast of crepes, turkey bacon, egg nog and apple cider. Lots of fruit toppings, yogurt, and of course whipping cream. Later on we went to Grandma/Grandpa Greenhalgh's for a seafood feast and more presents. Still, no horse. I snapped a back to back picture with Gavin and Joelle to compare to last year. Wow, what a difference a year makes in a teenage boy's life!

(Refer to last Thanksgiving's photo).

Darren took the kids up to Steven's Pass in the camper on Wednesday night. I stayed home alone, all alone! Had stuff to do. I was oh so lonely (not really!!!). It was completely fabulous how much I could get done all alone. I did go up on Thursday and spend the night and ski with them on Friday. The camper is nice but it really makes me appreciate my home. It was almost like walking into a mansion when I walked through the doors of my wonderful house. Funny, because we always say we could use more room in our house.