Pictures of Christmas (...to the tune of your own drum(mer boy?))

To quote Eli's latest catchphrase, "Hi, Gang." 

Let's dive into the Christmas excitement! 

Excitement visibly evident by the fact that I couldn't snap a picture without at least one child jittering around in a blur.

We made gingerbread houses! And if you look closely, you can see our elf had some fun with the boys' pictures this day. You should know that dry erase marker did something to the plastic on those pictures so they are permanently stained with those faces now. Barry might not be invited back next year. 

Especially because Barry forced some unwelcome self-reflection upon me. The pandemic has had a way of encouraging me to sneak away by myself as often as I can because it's the only way I get a minute to myself these days. If the kids interrupt my quiet moment, I will often shout through the door, "Mommy is having alone time!" as I finish off whatever snack I'm stress-eating while finishing up the latest episode of Bachelor. 

When Lincoln woke up to see Barry vegging out in front of a screen surrounded by junk food, he was completely unphased and said, "Oh. Barry's having his alone time." 

Most kids like the crusts cut off of their sandwiches...Jonah only eats the crust and then he's done. 

We went to Coors Light...I mean Glittering Lights. Does that not look like the Coors Light logo though? It's all I see when I look at this picture. 

I got called to be the Young Women's President in December. Ahhhhhhh! Much nervousness, uncertainty, and intimidation about my new title. Luckily I have an A+ team to keep me going. The first day we all met together I said, "Is it too soon to say 'I love you?'" I meant it, too. I could tell right away that they are all gung-ho and ready to get to work. So far they've made my job super easy!

Eli wrote a cute essay about how we celebrate Christmas. 

We made cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. 

Then we had a steak and shrimp dinner. Jeff was cute and set all those lights up around the house. 

Our cookie lure worked. The Big Man showed up!

Carson

Lincoln

Jonah

and Eli.

Unbeknownst to me and Jeff, Carson set an alarm for 6:00 AM Christmas morning. My kids have never woken up terribly early on Christmas, I think this was our earliest get-up time. *Reminder to check alarms next Christmas Eve.*

Jonah loves Blippi. We found Blippi on YouTube while looking for a garbage truck song once. Jonah immediately fell in love which is unfortunate because Jeff and I both strongly dislike the character. ...Santa...brought this Blippi more as a joke (for Jeff) than an actual gift...but it has ended up being Jonah's favorite present. 

Jonah also only eats the crusts of his chocolate bars. 

...Santa...surprised me and Eli with a Coca-Cola in his stocking.

My kids didn't ask for a lot this year for Christmas which was fun for me because I got to get them some things they wouldn't normally think of that I thought would be fun. Eli had a magical Christmas. 

Carson got a Lego City Ski Resort set he's had his eye on. 

I found an awesome deal on some Hatchimals and I've wanted to try them out. I got one for Lincoln and one for Jonah and they have loved them. They even still regularly play with them over a month later, so win! They named their Hatchimals Mario and Luigi which I found adorable. 

Christmas would have been perfect...had a member of the Bishopric not called us on the afternoon of Christmas Eve to ask us to speak in church in TWO DAYS! I died. It takes me at least 80 hours to prepare a good talk. Ha! Jeff was like, you're going to have to go straight from your first draft to your final draft and skip the four re-writes in between. Even that was going to be pushing it! Luckily the kids had a lot of new toys to play with so I could spend the entire day on Christmas stewing over my talk. 

Jeff had to speak, too, but he felt free as a bird. 

Jeff tended to all of the kids, played with their new toys with them, watched some of his favorite shows. I did not understand how he was so stress-free with our talks looming. We work in very different ways (thankfully)! He let me get my talk all done and then he was able to pull his together and he did a great job.

I threw boxes out in the garage whenever I needed to step away from the computer to ponder. Then it was back to typing. 

With Christmas behind us, Eli put up a Do Not Disturb sign and went into hibernation mode for the rest of (our THREE WEEK!) Christmas Break. 

All of Fall

I think I hit my Pandemic wall in September. All my Utah friends and family had their kids back in school and were starting sports back up, but we were still stuck at home with everything shut down. I was tired of being my kids' everything. I was exhausted and overstimulated by the constant noise and chaos of every day, especially when that was piled on top of the idea that there was no end or even any kind of a break in sight. 

And then just the monotony of every day. I mean, my life was pretty monotonous before, but it was a monotony I had chosen. Now I was living this monotonous life of battling my kids about multiplication tables, trudging through hours of sounding out words, and constantly yelling, "ARE YOU ON YOUR ZOOM CALL?!?" It was a weird mix of being so overwhelmingly busy with the most mundane parts of my pre-pandemic life. Like...let's strip away the activities you and your kids enjoy, the sports, the socializing, the outings...and let's replace them with neverending homework, nonstop meal prep, and a house that is perpetually askew. Also screaming. Much screaming.

AND THEN, once I realized all my sanity savers had been transformed into stress inducers, it also donned on me that the pandemic stripped us of the ability to have anything on our schedule to look forward to. Usually we have some kind of trip on the calendar, the option to go visit parents, an event to go to. No. Pandemic took it all away. 

I decided I needed to get SOMETHING on the calendar. SOMETHING to look forward to. SOMETHING to work towards. I saw St. George still had their Snow Canyon Half Marathon scheduled and kept announcing all over Facebook that it was happening. The thought of having a thing to look forward to, to work towards, and to have a mental release from the daily monotony was exactly what I needed. 

I signed up. I trained. I felt good. I was excited for the big day. Jeff and I decided we would take the whole family to St. George so the boys could see me finish a half marathon. I was so excited for our weekend getaway, and then three days before race day I got an email that the race had been canceled. 

I was so mad! The one thing I had to get me through the previous three months was now ripped away from me too! I had completed every run of the training and now no race! I couldn't believe it, and I was so frustrated. I thought I could still run 13 miles in Vegas, but what fun is that?!? I wanted the race environment, the energy, the cheering, the support from fellow runners. Also, maybe I wanted a big slice of Great Harvest bread and a few cups of watered-down Gatorade to finish off my run. But it was all gone now. 

In Come, Follow Me we happened to be studying Mormon 8 the week the race was canceled. While we were studying, we had a lesson about how Mormon was "all alone to write a sad tale of destruction." We talked about how we might kind of feel that way right now with the pandemic. People are alone and sad and it's hard to feel that way. Then we talked about how Mormon did the right thing even when he was all alone and no one was watching, he still did what he was commanded to do.

We talked with the kids about how the person we are is who we are when no one is watching. Jeff and I shared examples from our lives of times we were all alone and we had to make important decisions and how that taught us who we are and what we truly value. 

That lesson came back to my mind as I was doing angry laps around our neighborhood trying to figure out what I was going to do about my canceled half marathon. I had the thought that I could still be who I wanted to be even though no one would be watching. I wanted to show my boys that I work hard to achieve goals I set for myself, and that I could persevere through a few annoyances to still go after a goal that was important to me. 

So I decided we would still go to St. George and I would still run the race, but by myself. The boys dropped me off at the "starting line" and sent me on my way. 

I did miss the race energy at the starting line, the pacers leading me down the mountain, and the official time stamps, but there were a lot of other people doing the same thing I was doing, so we all cheered each other on. I had the cutest water boys chasing me all around the course, and I can now say I've completed a DIY half marathon. I was glad I did it and was grateful for Jeff and the boys who helped me make it happen. 

Best part? The Texas Roadhouse lunch we went to afterward! The boys were complete angels at the restaurant, making for an all around perfect day. 

And better yet, when we got home, we found out Lincoln would be able to attend school for two hours every day in person. Yay!

And of course with all the cooped-uppedness we experience during the week, we try to get out as much as possible on the weekends. Feeling very grateful for warm Vegas winters that are getting us through this school year! 

 

The boys' school did an awards ceremony for academic achievements. All of my boys got awards, and I have to say, I took that personally. :)

It was a welcome relief to get together with family over Thanksgiving. We will never take socializing for granted ever again!

We rented some motorized scooters the day after Thanksgiving while we spent a couple hours at a park in St. George. 

It was hard to leaf family! 

A Candy Collector, A Covid Zombie, Captain America, and Link

I was needing a project to give me something to live for after learning we'd be distance learning until at least January, so Halloween costumes were a welcome distraction! As soon as I offered to make Lincoln a garbage man costume, he was dead set on it. I had a lot of fun bringing it to life, and Lincoln was satisfied with the finished product, so smiles all around! 

The smiles didn't end with Lincoln and me. I finished his costume in time for garbage day. The garbage man got such a kick out of his costume that he stopped his truck so he could take pictures of his biggest fan. He even let Lincoln and Carson honk the horn! It was a great way to kick off Halloween week!

Carson created this spooky picture of his name in art class. His creativity and artistic ability always tickle me. 

Halloween on a Saturday is how it should always be done! We spent the afternoon carving pumpkins while listening to spooky music to help get us in the spirit of the holiday. 

During a Come, Follow Me lesson clear back in April, we were talking about some of our fears, worries, and concerns. One by one the boys talked about things that made them feel nervous. Eli went last and explained he's not afraid of much, but he was worried Halloween would be canceled with Coronavirus. We assured him that wouldn't be the case, and even if they couldn't go trick-or-treating, we would make sure to have a big Halloween party with lots of candy to make up for it. 

Well, people got talking on our neighborhood Facebook page over the last couple of weeks and many people said they were still up for trick-or-treating, so those who were comfortable with it put their porch light on and sent the kids door to door. Eli was one happy boy (among four)!

Eli hit the town dressed as a zombie. 

Lincoln went out candy "collecting." It should be noted that little garbage can functioned as a candy collector. You could put candy in the can, and then Lincoln could lift the can so that it dumped into a hole at the top of the truck that would put it into his candy bag. He also had functioning headlights and red taillights. He looked so cute and he was literally the talk of the town. 

Jeff passed out candy from our driveway and he kept hearing people passing by talking about "the little boy in the garbage truck." We would pass people as we were out that said, "Oh! There's the garbage man! We heard about him!" And we had two people stop us to take his picture. Lincoln hit celebrity status. As if that wasn't enough, this morning someone on the Facebook page said his costume was their favorite of the night. Ha! I knew it was cute, but I didn't think we'd be winning any unofficial neighborhood costume contests over it! Since words of affirmation are my love language, all this verbal attention had my garbage truck love tank topped off. 

Also looking adorable in another homemade creation was Jonah. Who I kept calling Lincoln all night because he was dressed as Link from Zelda. They were a walking Stroop Test. 

Eli recently beat the game Zelda. In the process, we gained a Zelda mega-fan. Jonah knows all of Link's moves, all the sounds he makes, and he can't eat a skewer of meat without pounding on his belly afterward. 

He was often mistaken for Peter Pan, an elf, Robin Hood, and my favorite, a Leprechaun, but he made sure to straighten everyone out and tell them he was LINK from Zelda Breath of the Wild...Hiyah! 

Carson made my life super easy. He wanted a costume we already had in our costume tote and simply requested a shield to go along with it. He did specify he didn't want his shield homemade, so that hurt a little bit. *sniffle* Does this mean he's growing up? *sniffle*

Jonah and Jeff carved that ghost pumpkin together. I also loved how Jonah started hooking his sword to his belt. He was in full character! 

Then it was time to head out! We started with masks, but quickly saw we were the only ones donning them so we ditched those and ended up having an evening completely Covid carefree. No, a lot of the houses set up tables on the end of their driveway with candy bags socially distanced and easy to grab. Others used tongs to hand out their candy. And one person had a candy chute to launch at the kids. It was fun to see how people got creative to make sure the holiday wasn't another casualty of Covid.

In fact, it almost felt like there were more people handing candy out than usual this year! And the houses that were handing out were giving big bags stuffed with candy to each kid, so the boys scored big time! Eli and Carson dubbed it their best Halloween yet! 

I always forget how much I love Halloween until the day hits. It's a kid's dream come true! I'm so glad we were able to celebrate it almost like normal this year.