January's end

This week was a busy one--Dan had candidate visits on campus, I'm working on another revision of book 2, and Andrew was busy studying spelling words for the preliminary spelling test for the school spelling bee. (He made it!)

A few highlights: Dan led pack meeting again this month, and we all went (for the first time in forever--imagine Anna singing here). Andrew got his arrow of light and participated in his last pack meeting.

The kids all had play dates this week--Oliver was especially charmed by Evelyn's friend Julianna's little sister, Sophia (to the point that, when a different friend showed up the morning Sophia was expected, he started to cry).

Oliver got to dress up for preschool on Friday. He was supposed to come as a winter character or animal, but he rejected Elsa (not surprisingly!) and a wolf hat. So--winter batman anyone?

Winter dress up day in preschool. 4 yo rejected Elsa and wolf hat, so winter Batman it is! #preschool #dressup #ImBatman

A photo posted by Rosalyn Eves (@rosalyn.eves) on Jan 27, 2017 at 2:30pm PST

 On Saturday the whole family went to the SUU basketball game--mostly because we wanted to see Jean's Golden Girls at half time (women aged 50-94, with an amazingly spry 84 year old who performed the splits at the end). It went something like this: Andrew (and sometimes Evelyn) roamed around with Andrew's friend McKay. Oliver wanted to follow them, but mom said no, so we tried bribing him with an enormous bag of popcorn to stay in his seat. It sort of worked. I was much more interested in crowd watching (with a side of instagram). But I think everyone had fun.

And one more photo (because I was too lazy to download this week so you get copies of Instagram).

Sunday afternoons with bounty hunters

A photo posted by Rosalyn Eves (@rosalyn.eves) on Jan 29, 2017 at 2:52pm PST

Getting Old(er)

 I've been slacking again! To be fair, Dan and I spent most of last weekend sick, and are just now digging out of that, so I'll blame not posting last week on that. Previously, however, I've no excuse.

On January 12th, I got to do a fun writing event with my writer's group, where we talked about tips on finishing a writing project. I really love these ladies.

Andrew participated in the First Lego league tournament last Saturday. His team worked hard and though they didn't place, I was proud of him for supporting his team. Poor Dan was one of the judges, and it was his second day of a long illness, so he was pretty much done by the time the tournament was over. (I heard Robert was also a judge, but had to recuse himself from part of the judging as soon as Andrew walked in the room with his team.)

Evelyn got her hair trimmed (don't ask me when. Ten days ago??). (By Laurie's cousin McCall!). She made all the older ladies in the salon laugh when McCall asked her if she was going to get her hair cut and she emphatically said she was getting it *trimmed.* She was very nervous that too much would get cut. (In reality, less than an inch).

Some goofy pictures of Evelyn and Oliver enjoying bubbles.

 My birthday was on Wednesday. For those who are counting, it was a big one. (I wasn't looking forward to it). And then I was still sick, so I spent most of the day in and out of bed. Andrew and Evelyn were home sick that day too, and Oliver didn't have preschool, so all together it was a pretty disappointing birthday. (Though having the big kids around meant I got some rest since Oliver was distracted).

I was feeling a little better the next day, so I got to have dinner at the Ninja with my writing group (though we skipped the typical after-dinner critique session b/c half of us were still recovering from something. It's been a bad week in Cedar for illness, apparently).

 Because we basically skipped all celebrations this past week (we were supposed to spend the night in St. George at the condo last Sunday and then go hiking in Zion on MLK day, but sickness meant we cancelled the trip), we headed down to St. George. We went to Costco and then the bookstore and Sees--because it was making up for my birthday and that's where I wanted to go. (Books and chocolate. Imagine that! Though strangely, the kids each walked away with a book and I came out empty handed.)

We stopped at a fun little cafe in Hurricane that I found from Google map reviews. Andrew's hamburger was almost as big as his face. Oliver and Evelyn both had waffles with whipped cream and seemed very happy with them. I had butternut squash ravioli that was quite good. 

Here's hoping for a productive (illness-free) week this week. 

Catching Up

It's been over a month since I blogged. Part of that is a factor of traveling on Sundays when I usually post; part of it was also being exceptionally busy. In addition to the holidays, I had a revision of book two that I finally got to my editor last week and so spent a lot of the last few weeks working on that.

So, this might be the cliff notes version of life in the last month.

Bubby and Poppy put together a fun "Grinch" dinner a week or so before Christmas, with whoville themed foods. Jodi was there with her kids and it was lovely.

We made a bunch of batches of pomegranate jam because once you do something like this a couple years in a row, people start to expect it. (Though I admit it was nice to see how excited people were to get some).

Andrew turned 11! Because it was an odd year birthday, he didn't have a party, but he did have a couple friends over and they played video games, ate pizza, and had ice cream cake (because when you're 11, that's pretty much your idea of an ideal day).

Here he is on his actual birthday with the enormous alligator jaw donut Bubby and Poppy brought him.

Christmas eve dinner was with Bubby and Poppy and the Wells; we had sandwiches, vegetables, other kinds of finger food.

 Christmas eve pajamas: Oliver was super excited by his pokemon pajamas. The others were okay with theirs. The kids all got animal slippers too (Evelyn and Oliver have kitty slippers, since the new animal obsession is with cats).

Christmas day, we went to sacrament meeting with Bubby and Poppy and Sarah's family, then had a quick lunch followed by the real business of presents. Oliver lost interest in the proceedings about half-way through, but everyone else seemed pleased.

 Christmas dinner was Southern inspired, including fried chicken, cheesy grits, and even collard greens with black-eyed peas.

Evelyn wasted little time in putting together the lego roller coaster/ amusement park set she got for Christmas (she did it all by herself too).

We spent a couple of days in St. George enjoying nicer weather (a walk after taking the kids swimming in Washington City).

Then we went up north to see my family. Dan and I got to see Rogue One (good, but too much fighting! And not enough women). We had a fun family party that Friday, though my mom embarrassed me by having all the grandkids present me with condolences and black balloons in honor of my upcoming birthday.

New Year's Eve, we had breakfast with several of my aunts and a couple of cousins, then went to the mall and picked up a new puzzle and game to try out that night.

Also, Evelyn got her ears pierced! It was quite the adventure. We had to wait for a couple other customers, one of whom was a little girl who cried and cried after getting the first piercing and it took forever for her parents to calm her down. Not surprisingly, by the time it was Evelyn's turn, she was more than a little freaked out. I had her sit on my lap, but she kept whispering, "I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this." I told her she didn't have to go through with it, but she insisted, "No, I want to!" So I held her and she braced herself and then it wasn't as bad as she thought (though she said it did sting).

And now she has lovely emerald studs.

We played games with my parents that night, and went to bed early (though the fireworks kept me up past midnight, so I guess not that early). We came home New Years Day, school started two days later for the kids, three days later for Dan (I'm not teaching this semester b/c of book stuff), and it snowed. Again. (Most of it melted today).

Oh, and I got my hair cut!

Oliver, sleeping sideways on his bed, about to be devoured by the huge pile of books also on his bed.