January 2, 2021
The week before Christmas I went with Hinckley and Addie to Aspen Grove with my parents and many of my siblings. Hinckley and Addie had a great time sledding, playing various games with cousins, doing artwork, playing in the game room, and eating treats, and staying up way too late. It was wonderful to see all those that could make it and we missed those that couldn't. Hinckley and Logan found a long downhill road they could sled on, and I helped them build a snow fort wall which was fun. Addie vacillated from exhaustion/sadness to delighted and overjoyed with everything going on. Her older cousins like Kate, Annie, and Sadie were very inclusive and always tried to involve her. She sat with me during Nana’s “Minute to Win It” games which Hinckley seemed to enjoy somewhat as he got lots of candy prizes throughout. He was anxious much of the time about wanting to play hide n seek and we finally were able to do that near the end of the day which many other cousins seemed to really enjoy.
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| Christmas morning |
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| Christmas Morning - stockings |
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| Visit from Nana and Grandpa on Christmas Morning |
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| Shep greeting Hinckley |
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| Gingerbread houses with Lilah |
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| Open play with cousins and Dan and Sam's |
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| Visit to Granny and Grandpa |
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| Jamba Juice family lunch |
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| Train park in Scotsdale |
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| Mesa temple with Grandma and Grandad |
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| Empanadas in Mesa |
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| New Years Eve - Rootbeer floats |
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| Sledding at the Bowl |
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| Sledding at the bowl |
I feel like we did more in the last 2 weeks than the last 6 months! It was a wonderful holiday time together.
December 19, 2021
We had a full week wrapping up school for the year and getting ready for the holidays. On Monday I went with Kas and Mom to see Addie’s 1st grade Christmas performance at school. She was so excited about it and has been talking about it non-stop the last few days. She was really overjoyed when she saw us there and I was very grateful I could attend. We were lucky to be able to see here through all the crowd of people as we sat near the back. Addie went back to the doctor this week to check on her ear infection and got some stronger medicine...and then later in the week woke up with some aches and came home early from school and later threw up. Poor girl has been at varying levels of sickness now for going on 3 weeks.
On Wednesday the kids at “learn from home” day, which is also known as a “snow day”! They were overjoyed when we shared the news and did a pretty good job still doing some school work in addition to playing outside and enjoying hot chocolate and cookies. Days like that are pretty magical. We went and saw the epic light display at the house
Very Merry Meridian in Saratoga Springs and thanks to not coming on a weekend we were able to get a great view without waiting in line and dealing with all that. It was wonderful!
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| Addie before her 1st grade Christmas performance |
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| Greyson working through his Perplexus |
Greyson has really got into trying to do Hinckley’s Perplexus balls. He holds it up to his face and basically touches his eyes directly to the ball as he rotates it around. It is pretty cute. He had a stay-at-home date with Kassie this week after getting some Roxberry smoothies they watched the Paw Patrol Movie which he has been very eager to explain to anyone who will listen. He is a goofball. The other evening he kept saying he saw scarecrows in the toilet. He then started singing gibberish songs and after stopping to breathe said “I’m singing for my exercise right now Dad.” At night when he gets in bed, he always needs to cover his whole head with all the blankets so he is safe from “monsters” and scarecrows apparently. He and Hinckley really enjoyed going out and playing in the snow this week. Both are able to entertain themselves quite well with snow and the backyard! That is a blessing.
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| The boys discovered the electric heating pad |
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| Preparing for Hinckley's virtual piano performance |
I took Hinckley over to his piano teacher’s house to record Silent Night which was later played in a virtual piano recital. It was fun to see him do that and how happy he was about it. He appears to be having a fairly positive experience with piano. I asked him what he likes about it beyond the treats he earns and he said, “It sounds nice sometimes.” On Saturday Hinckley spent a ton of time working on building some “small castles” with legos in the morning which was refreshing. He and Greyson went with me to deliver some Christmas treats and gifts to neighbors, and it was a pretty nice day outside. Hinckley had fun running in the “fresh snow” at the park where he could make footprints on the undisturbed (though now quite old and frozen) snow. We had planned to go to the temple in the afternoon but Addie was still not fully recovered and the babysitter was also sick…so we stayed home. As a family, we watched
Home Sweet Home Alone which was pretty funny. Though the slapstick humor was a little too much for Addie.
I had a great interview for the podcast with Dad! It was really great to talk about evaluation and many important themes that I've learned from him over the years. I'm looking forward to sharing that in a week or so. I'm looking forward to seeing many of you this week!
December 12, 2021
This week Addie and Greyson fully recovered from their ear infections, and Hinckley got an ear infection. All three were on the "pink medicine" morning and night and seem to be much better now. I took Addie and Greyson up to the Hogle Zoo for the Weave Holiday Party (Zoo lights) and they seemed to really enjoy it. We didn’t see any animals (other than a tiger nearly completely hidden). But the two kids enjoyed the lights, a carousel, and treats. Addie got her face painted. We did a lot of waiting in lines, but ultimately they seemed really happy about it.
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| On the carousel at Hogle Zoo (Weave Party) |
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| Hogle Zoo (Weave Party) |
We had some epic fits this week including Greyson not wanting to wear pants and Addie brushing her hair after bathtime and refusing to go to the library to pick up a book. Lots of patience and love are being developed here! Greyson loves the hard rock version of “Your A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and insisted on “cool music” (Rock) while in the bathtub. He's really been into "cool music" and when he hears music come on immediately asks, "When will this get cool"? (meaning when will the drums and guitar come).
Hinckley pleaded and then purchased some sheet music for a Zelda song that is much too advanced. But hey, I won’t stop him from using his own money to buy sheet music! I just hope it doesn’t discourage him too much and that maybe he really will lean into the challenge of learning it. It is amazing how easy it is to find music on just about anything these days compared to when I was a lad. Kas and I enjoyed going up to SLC to see Jim Gaffigan perform. My face hurt after laughing so much. It was fun to be able to go to such a thing and reflect on how I take myself too seriously about 99% of the time!
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| Waiting for Jim Gaffigan to come on stage in SLC |
On Saturday I took the kids to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. Addie was bored and angry for most of the time but we managed to make it through the whole museum without any tears or screaming. The kids enjoyed different parts of it though we went through very fast to accommodate everyone. We had some hard moments. For “Daddy movie” we watched Safety Last, a silent film from the 20s with Harold Lloyd. I was curious if they would make it through, but they did and they all seemed to really enjoy it too! I was impressed actually. Hinckley was literally screaming with suspense, so really got into it. Later he went with Kassie on a date to go ice skating which went pretty well. Everyone is counting down to Christmas and excited out of their wits :)
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| Mega Shark at the Dino Museum (with shark faces) |
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| Building Hyrule Castle with Mixed Media |
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| Addie's drawing table |
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| Hinckley on the ice |
December 5, 2021
We've moved into December now and sickness has taken hold. Kassie, Greyson, and Addie have had varying levels of whatever it is but seem to be on the mend. I took Hinckley and I went to the ward Christmas party and he had a blast at the live nativity, eating cookies and rolls, and running around with other kids. This week he got really into the music from Encanto and was excited about printing out the words to "We don't talk about Bruno" so he could learn how to sing it to make his friends laugh at school. Addie and Greyson like to mimic him and get his temper going.
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| Intermission at "Christmas Around the World" |
Greyson has been given some "TV socks" to wear on his arms and hands in hopes to have him stop scratching his "bloody ouchies". He picks at the skin on his arms and legs which then create a bunch of sores that he picks over and over again while he is watching TV or doing other absent-minded things. He just finished his "wearing pants" sticker chart with success and so we will now transition to a "bloody ouchie" chart in hopes of curbing that habit. He's been sick on and off again this week but after each dose of ibuprofen, he perks up and declares he isn't sick anymore. And then soon after he is back to screaming and casting himself to the ground in a fit of tears and pounding fists.
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