Happy Birthday Zac!

Zac had a birthday a few days ago, sadly he was at a seminar in Long Beach so we had to celebrate a little early. He got to celebrate all weekend though. Birthday party with us Wednesday, my mom took him to dinner on his birthday (she happened to be at a show in anaheim the same weekend), and some other members of his seminar brought him donuts and sang to him on Saturday.

Teagan was very excited about the whole thing, wrapping presents and blowing out candles was his dream come true.

I had a little birthday party for us and it was a blast if I do say so myself. Zac had been talking about doing a "Minute to Win it" Party for a while, not necessarily for his birthday, but just as a fun night. So me and my dorky self went a little wild and made a whole PowerPoint game based on a bunch of the games off the show. If you haven't heard of it, it is basically a game show where contestants have to perform really "simple" challenges in less than one minute.

Things like blowing a deck of cards off of a glass bottle, but leaving the last card...this one, we've decided, is completely impossible!
...and stacking and unstacking 36 plastic cups. This one is almost doable, but it is still really hard. We did a bunch of other ones and it was so fun I think we might be hosting minute to win it parties at our house in the near future.
While Zac was at his seminar I got to hang out with my sister and her family in Salt Lake. They(Julie and Jeff) went on a little overnighter and I stayed with all the little ones, ages 3,3,2, and 2. You'd probably guess that it was insane the whole time, but it really wasn't. They play together so well, I have to admit that I sent them all downstairs to play and read a book for probably an hour one day. They were all so sweet and I really had fun with them. The thing that was crazy was meal times. I'd try to sneak into the kitchen and prepare the food and have it divided up before they came so it wasn't chaotic and they would somehow sense that I was making food and they'd all come running. Then I'd hear four versions of "can I please have food" all at the same time and getting louder and more intent all the time. That was wild.
It was also doable because we watched all three Toy Story movies in the course of about 30 hours...
It was a great weekend and we're ready to be back home and back into our groove. I'm trying to avoid the huge laundry pile right now....but I guess I'll just go face it.

Lately...via pictures

We've had a busy week, here is some documentation...

We went to Driggs last weekend. I spent a few short hours (way too short!) at my family's house where Beth taught me how to alter men's dress pants. It was actually really fun and I love learning a new skill! I almost have all of Zac's pants done, one to go. Thank you Beth! and thank you Teagan and Zac and Dad and Rachel for letting Beth and I work on our sewing!

Then we headed south to celebrate the Super bowl with the Daniels family (yes it is a holiday in the Daniels family). Teagan and his adorable cousin Taylin having a tea party with REAL water. He was in heaven. We had delicious food and great company, it was too short too. Why can't weekends last longer?

Teagan got a Valentines pillow and blanket from g-ma and g-pa Daniels that he still hasn't parted with. They are so soft and fuzzy and he takes them wherever he goes. They have been weapons, hiding places, sleeping apparatuses, and homes for his action figures. He had so much fun playing with everyone....

We got to go night skiing with Zac's work this week. Talk about a complete blast!!!! I grew up skiing and tried to be cool and snowboard when I got to be a teen. I was terrible and learned to hate snowboarding passionately. Last night I tried skiing for the first time since I was probably 11 and I LOVED it. So much less painful and cold. Zac is a total pro on the snowboard, I think we might have found something to keep us busy in the winter!

I've been trying to structure our days better to see if I could ever handle homeschooling and be an effective teacher for Teagan. Good thing I have a few years to practice!

We were talking about emotions the other day during learning time and drawing pictures of things that made us happy, sad, and mad. Here were his expressions:

Happy

Funny

Sad

Mad

I've been getting him to do lots more chores and I've noticed an interesting correlation. The more responsibilities I give him the happier and more obedient he is....it's weird, but I'll go with it! Here he is clearing out the silverware and making himself some toast....the toast was a surprise. Seriously he said "mom, I have a surprise, I made me and piece of toast and you a piece of toast, surprise!"

Some of the jobs he does: clear out silverware, sort dirty clothes (still with my help), take clean clothes out of dryer, put them in a basket, and bring them to the kitchen, find all the socks when I folding clothes, put away his clothes, vacuum up crumbs under the table after dinner, and take out garbages. He wants to help with everything I'm doing like making dinner or cleaning bathrooms. He is actually to the point where he is helpful and about 50% reliable. When he gets frustrated I just remind him of the little engine that could and he chants "I know I can, I know I can." Somedays he's more willing then others and the days he's not I just have him do the silverware, even if it takes him two hours, and then he plays while I work. I kind of love it.

Today we played Doctor's office and made hospital beds out of the cushions, we took turns treating each other. Check out his knees.

And in our spare time we turn on music and dance around so I can stop gaining winter weight, it's not working so far...summer please come soon.

Cinderella Cinderella....

Today I was reading Teagan some random book from the library for his nap and it was about a servant.

Teagan: "mom, what does servant mean?"

Me: "A servant is someone who does all of the chores for rich people, they make dinner and clean dishes and do laundry and dust and vacuum"

Teagan: "OH! Mommy is a servant!"

Me: "pretty much"

I could go off on some of my deep thoughts on the idea of servitude, but I'll just keep it short. I don't feel like a servant at all, but I really do seem to have the same jobs. Maybe it doesn't seem horrible because I love my family a lot and I want to do things for them so it doesn't seem so bad...and they are always really grateful and loving and that sure eases the burden.

(I wanted to include a picture of me looking like a happy servant in the olden days...but I ended up with a really foggy looking picture of me with a double chin...haha I should leave this stuff up to my mom!)

I love Family

Last week my sister Julie and her kiddos came up for a spontaneous 2 night trip. We decided that there was no use being alone at our own houses so she came up so we could keep each other company. Teagan loved having 3 of his cousins to play with all day and I loved having someone to chat with while I ironed. Sisters are the best!

One night we went out to Idaho Falls to get together with my brother's and their families. Zac is always a hot spot when kids are around. He can't help playing with them. He walked in after everyone else had already been there for a while and the kids just flocked to him. To me it just doesn't look that fun, but he said that he doesn't mind. (He's wearing an orange shirt in the picture)

We realized that all of my mom's grandkids were there so we took a picture for her, can you believe that every single kid is looking?!?!?!?! My jaw about hit the floor when I saw this. We loved being with everyone.

I was sad to see Julie go, but I'll be visiting her at the end of this month so it's great to have something to look forward to.

Saturday my brother's brought their families all the way out to our house. It was great fun. My favorite part was when Jake and Brian took over the lego building and sent all the kids to find blocks for them. It was hilarious.

Right now it's 10 degrees outside, maybe less with the wind, and I've decided that the cold is worth being closer to more family. I can just barricade myself inside all week and then play with family on the weekends. Actually, I took Teagan to the park yesterday and we had a blast, so I guess the winter isn't so bad.