December Day by Day - Part 2
Wednesday, December 11
We all kind of slept in today. The made lunch for the girls and then headed off to school. Then Luke. Dad came home and went straight to bed. Matthew and I did some jobs together in the kitchen and Matthew and while I at the kitchen sink and turned around to him he squealed and it scared me to death. He had just spotted Buddy the Elf in the wreath about the kitchen sink. I thought it must be a bee or a bad guy or something! Ha ha! It made him laugh that he scared me to death.
Just as I sat here typing this my "#LighttheWorld text came through prompting me to ‘Call your parents to tell them you love them.” I immediately called my Mom and left a message on her phone. Then I called my Dad and talked to him for 20 minutes about YSA Bishop interviews and Healthcare — which was so great!. At the end I said, “Dad, I just wanted you to know how much I love and appreciate you.” He said, “Oh Lisa I love you so much. More than you might think by the little communication I offer. I love you. Life is good.” When I got off the phone I could see that Emily had tried to call and then called Dad too. : )
When Chris woke up he got ready and then we headed to Costa Vida for lunch and then to the movie theater to see FORD v FERARRI — which we loved! So fun to have ‘Day Dates’ with my hon.
Emily worked the long shift at Freddy’s and the rest of us — plus Gavin — ate scrambled eggs and toast, worked on the Pizza puzzle and watched STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. Luke and Matt went up and got their droids so they could watch the movie too! Dad got a couple of calls early on but did them from home so he would watch the movie.
Cute Christmas cookies dropped off from the Lemmons. : )
Thursday, December 12
The kids headed off to school and Dad came home and went right to bed and I headed off to get my hair cut and colored.
When he woke up, we headed to Mod Pizza for lunch and then did some Christmas errands which helped us get a lot accomplished. When we got home we snuck stuff into our closet, helped the kids with homework, make some online purchases, ate roasted vegetables and Risotto for dinner and then cleaned up.
The Theurers came over to hang out and work on our #LighttheWorld assignment for the day - “Create and share a piece of art about Jesus Christ.” The kids worked on drawing pictures and then we ate Peppermint Ice Cream. Anders brought a Christmas present for Matt and it was unwrapped and put on before Ali could even get inside. Matching Vans shirts for him and Anders. SO FUN! (Ali said it was because we really introduced Vans to them and now they love the brand.)
Friday, December 13
Happy Birthday to my brother Scott!
The kids headed off to school and dad came home from work and went straight to bed. I worked on editing some pictures, updating my December blog, getting talks for primary, texting an invite to friends for the 23rd, sending on some pictures of our German Christmas Party last week, and coming up with a grocery list for our epic target run.
Dad woke up at 11:30 and we headed off to the movie Midway, a war movie similar to Pearl Harbor from years ago. It was really well done!
Then dad and I went over to Dick’s and got some good things done and then straight over to target. Because of purchasing something on Black Friday we earned a 20% off everything coupon good for one purchase. I’ve been making a list of things I need for food, miscellaneous and Christmas for a week and a half now. I gave dad the list of groceries and had him take one cart while I took another cart and headed to find a bunch of miscellaneous stuff. We met in the toy department to make some decisions. We had two carts full and were able to use:
Buy $50 worth of household supplies and get $15 gift card
Buy $50 worth of Lego and get $10 gift card
Buy $100 worth of toys or games and get $25 off
Buy dove shampoo and soap and get a $10 gift card
Price match a game to a cheaper online price
Then get 20% off almost my whole purchase on top of that
And THEN 😂 I used a $300 gift card that only cost me $270 to buy last week when gift cards were on sale.
Glad I had Dad there too since he was putting everything on the counter while I was checking the register to make sure every deal was working. The guy checking us out was super helpful. We maxed out the target sales for sure. Loved it!
We ran home and had the kids head to the Ward Party without us while we unpacked the van and put the groceries away. Then we met them at the church. The ward party was a breakfast for dinner party where we decorated gingerbread houses afterwards - the kids loved it.
Dad headed straight from the party to work and I had fun visiting with friends. Megan and I even hijacked Ali’s phone and took a picture of us for her to find later.
Saturday, December 14
Matt and I woke up at 7:00 and headed to his indoor soccer game at the Soccer Haus. I wrote a letter to Katie in the car for the first half and then went in to watch the game. The teams aren’t paired up very well so it’s not a very equal game but at least it’s good practice and exercise.
Eli came over at 9:30 and he and Luke worked on a project due on Monday and also managed to squeeze some time in to do backflips on the tramp.
Megan helped me make two pans of Squamish Bars. It was fun to talk to her about things as we worked. I think I’m done with Squamish Bars for the year!
Chris woke up at about 12:00 and then we headed over to the Theurers to help them move stuff into their moving truck. They had most of it done already so we didn’t do much. Romney, Anders, Owen and Cade came over to hang out for the afternoon. Grateful to have them here for one more weekend but so sad.
Chris and I took off to get a few things done at the Shops of Briargate and then
Dad picked up pizzas from Marco’s for dinner and we had the Theurers over to eat. Then we gathered at the Jacksons house for the Theurer’s goodbye party. Lot of friends brought desserts and appetizers to share and it was fun to talk to friends while the kids watched THE GRINCH downstairs. At the end it was the Campbells, Jacksons, us and the Theurers. (Minus Chris who left early to head to work.) We took some pictures and then the Campbells said their goodbyes. That’s when it got really hard. The kids started to hug each other and all of us started crying. So hard. Love that Theurer family. It was heart-breaking to watch Owen, Luke, Anders and Matt just sob and hug each other. We will miss them! The Theurers hugged all of us and we stood in a big circle just cried with each other, unable to actually part. And then they left. We gathered our things and left soon after. The van ride home was quiet — except for sporadic sobs. We moved right into the living room and cried until we didn’t have any tears left. Matt said it was the most he’d ever cried unless he was hurt. : ) Then he suggested we have the Martinelli’s that the Theurers gifted us and I whole heartedly agreed. Drinking away our sorrows just seemed appropriate. We love you, Theurers! Best friends forever.
Sunday, December 15
Chris went straight from work to his High Council meeting and then home to sleep. (He got a box of treats and ornament from the Stake Presidency!) I took all of the kids over to the church early so that we could support the ward choir. Apparently there are not a lot of people singing and they were desperate for more. Emily Garlock wandered in to support too and we ended up sitting next to each other and had so much fun chatting as we tried to learn our soprano parts. The songs are beautiful but different so a little tricky to learn. Hopefully with everyone on Sunday it will turn out ok.
Church was great. Matt told me he was probably going to cry a bunch of times at church because Anders was gone. They announced it several times and he looked over at me every time. The Primary Presidency was released and then recalled with Sunny as president, Anne Johnson as first counselor, Crystal remaining as 2nd Counselor and me as the secretary. It was strange that Ali wasn’t in Primary with us but things with the new presidency will be great. After Church we were set apart in the Bishops office. : )
Chris woke up and headed over to the Stake Center to help remove pews for the Stake Christmas Concert. At 4:00 we headed over so Emily could start rehearsing. We grabbed some chairs and then headed into the kitchen to help Saralyn Campbell prepare and cut up food for the performers to eat in-between shows. This year the there was a 5:00 show and a 7:30 show.
The Concert was outstanding. Emma Patterson and Joe Hale really outdid themselves. The program had five people from different countries talk about their customs and how they Celebrate Christ. Then the choir sang a song coming from one of those countries. It was beautiful. Emma did such a great job with the orchestra. So great to have brass instruments, bells and chimes with such a full sound. Even the trio of brass instruments accompanied with the piano as prelude had me overwhelmed with the spirit. Joe sang Silent Night with just a guitarist and then Emma came in with the cello. It was unusual and so so good. The last song especially was so powerful. When it ended we all felt so filled with the Spirit. Reminded by the Stake Presidency to not clap because we were in the Chapel, we are sat still except one little 2 year old who couldn’t help but say, “YAY!” as soon as it finished. It was an exclaim that we were all feeling. Music is remarkable.
When the concert was over we moved to the kitchen to help with the food. Fun to serve with Saralyn and Megan.
Monday, December 16
Happy Birthday Mike!
It snowed all night and we woke up to a beautiful blanket of white and an email announcing another SNOW DAY! This will mean that we’ve used 4 1/4 of our 6 allotted snow days already. A subsequent email came out later stating that the school day will be 10 minutes longer starting in January. Yikes! I do love a good snow day though. Chris was off of work so we thoroughly enjoyed being home together. We did a little cleaning and organizing. Luke and Megan worked on finishing projects and redoing assignments. Matt helped Chris put up SEVEN new light fixtures around the house. FANTASTIC! Matt did such a great job helping — nearly 4 hours of work — and earned 20 Santa Bucks, which he was thrilled about.
At 3:00 Megan, Romney and Jane came over and we watched STAR WARS: The Last Jedi! It was so fun. Gets me so excited to watch the next Star Wars movie — THIS FRIDAY!
Emily worked at Freddy’s and because of the icy road conditions Dad drove her up and back. Then they practiced driving in the snow for a long time around our neighborhood streets and to the high school. She did great.
Dad and I spent some time pulling out all the presents and getting them organized. It helps me to be able to see them visually. Now we can get wrapping.
We got a package from Jared and Geneva today! Beautiful new Charcuterie boards. I LOVE them!!
Tuesday, December 17
Chris and I woke up at 5:00am and quickly got ready and headed to the hospital to check in at 5:30. Soon they pulled us back into the pre-op area and hooked Chris up with monitors, an IV, and did lots of paperwork with a series of nurses and doctors. At 6:55 they escorted me back to the waiting room and at 7:07 Dr. Jones came out to meet with me and told me the procedure was done. Wow. He said there were a lot of great rips and cracks. No wonder Chris came out of anesthesia in level 10 pain. I headed back in to be with him and for an hour or more they gave him different drugs to try and bring down the pain. It took awhile. When he finally got down to a 4-5 level pain, they went through the paperwork to discharge him. When he got dressed the movement made him nauseas and so we waited a little longer. The nurse put him in a wheelchair and I pulled up the van and drove home slowly as to not aggravate his nausea. I helped him get up in his bed and then headed to Target to fill his prescription and grab a few things while I was there.
Most of his day was spent either in bed asleep or down on the living room couch asleep. The Percicit made him so drowsy he could hardly stay awake. We kept both families informed and they texted back their well-wishes. Romney came over with bread to see how he was doing, which was thoughtful.
I took Megan over to get 2 cavities filled and called Ali while I waited. Fun to talk to her : ) Then we raced over to the post office to mail something for Mike and Carly, and then over to Maggies house to pick out scrunchies and hair ties for Kayla for Christmas. Then home to make Apricot Chicken and Rice rice dinner for everyone before Luke, Matt and I headed over to the last pack meeting ever. Luke stayed with us and then had an appointment with the Bishop. When I walked in the house I shouted, “Yahoo! Last Pack Meeting Ever!” which unfortunately woke up Chris who was sleeping on the couch. Sorry bud!
Wednesday, December 18
Chris had PT first thing in the morning so the kids headed to school and we left Matt at home as we headed over to the hospital. We met Chris’ physical therapist, Kyle who we really like. He did some stretches with Chris that I could tell really hurt him. It was hard to watch and when I did I couldn’t help but say ‘OUCH’. Kyle taught me how to do them so I could help stretch him at home.
When we got home Chris settled in on the couch and dozed in and out while I wrapped a BUNCH of presents. Feels good to have cute presents under the tree!
At 1:00 we had our first primary meeting as a new primary presidency. It’s a busy time of year with us changing buildings, exchanging keys, figuring out who is teaching what class, Valiant 10’s out and new Sunbeams in, where classes will be in the new building, moving all our Primary stuff from the Liberty closet to the Lexington closet. It’s quite the transition. We talked mostly about teachers and where they would go. If we can get that all figured out then we can handle the rest later. It was a good meeting. I just learned that the first ward to meet on Sundays (Cordera at 8:30am) has the responsibility to decorate the Primary bulletin boards — so I’ve already bought and downloaded the Redheadedhostess Primary Come Follow Me Packet. She has great stuff!
Emily had piano lessons. Matt had piano lessons. And I made some good Greek tacos for dinner. Then Luke, Emily and I headed to the church for the ward choir practice. Sure hope more people are there on Sunday morning!! The songs are pretty — especially THE FIRST NOEL sung by all the women. I love that Luke is so eager to sing as well. Fun to be there with my kids.
Thursday, December 19
The kids headed off to school and Chris slept. I helped the kids get off to school while I cleaned the kitchen, emptied the dishwasher, mopped the floor, started some laundry, organized the pantry etc. I realized that these first two hours of cleaning and organizing help make the rest of the day so much smoother and relieves any possible stress — I didn’t have this prep time on Tuesday or Wednesday and I could really feel the difference.
Chris and I went to his PT appointment at 12:15. He’s not doing too great today - his shoulder and back are sore and he’s trying to ween off his Percocet because it makes him so tired and constipated, but he really needs a pain reliever. He’s pretty dedicated about exercising it though - since he’s anxious to have this really work.
We headed to Modern Market for lunch and shared a big salad while we talked about Christmas Day details. Then I picked up a present for Nikole and we headed home.
Megan, finished with her finals and ‘parent-forced’ Math review session, wanted to head down to Dicks to look for things, so I went with her and she picked up a couple presents — which is good. Then Emily and I headed down to Shops of Briargate and she did some looking for Megan and Maggie.
Dad and I went to the Seminary Meeting at 6:00 and then back home for 45 minutes of united cleaning with the kids.
We gathered the kids around the table and had our introductory meeting about the new Children and Youth Program. I printed out the brainstorming sheet with the four categories and we talked about ideas for goals in all four areas. The Children and Youth website, as well as the Youth booklet and the Children booklet give a lot of great suggestions and was helpful in coming up with ideas. The kids brainstormed and came up with their own ideas. We added a VISION BOARD to the outside of our papers thinking about what we wanted to do or become long term. It was a great first session. I think we will meet again soon to pick one or two things to start working on and make a plan.
Chris and Emily turned on Downton Abbey and started working on the sports puzzle, the boys headed to bed and I made tags and wrapped the Moons presents.
At 10:00 I left for the Colorado Springs Airport to pick up Ryan and Grandma Johnson. So fun to have them here! We chatted about things on the way home and then stayed up till midnight discussing Ryan’s good grades, his roommates and another epic semester of fun. He was excited to see the house decorated and finally, upon arrival, felt his stress dissipate. This should be a relaxing fun break for him and we’re all thrilled to have him.
Friday, December 20
Chris was up first and headed off to physical therapy at 7:00 and then his follow up appointment at 7:45.
The kids woke up and headed off to school — the boys were able to get going even faster than normal with Ryan in their bedroom. He read his scriptures out loud in Albanian and added funny movements to make them laugh. Then he explained what was going on and I could overhear their discussion. Ryan is such a great big brother and good example.
Dad came home from PT and with his coat still on holding his ice pack in place, turned on A CHRISTMAS STORY and finished the puzzle, while I made eggs and hashbrowns for the four of us.
Chris and Ryan headed off to Target to fill a prescription and pick up a few groceries for me while I finally get to write in my journal and look at a few things online. It’s been a busy week and I’ve missed the opportunity to write about my day.
We called the boys out of school at noon and headed over to the ICON Theater to watch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. We loved it! I thought it was really well done and a perfect end to the trilogy. Fun to watch it with Ryan and look over at him at the fantastic parts!
Grandma took us over to the SUMMIT and we bowled, which was so fun — except for Luke who struggled with why the ball wouldn’t go where he wanted it to. We really only bowl with Grandma so we don’t get that much practice. Grandma won the first game and I won the second game with 133. We ate hawaiian pizza while we bowled. It was really fun.
At home we gave the kids a new puzzle! and worked on it while we watched KLAUS. A cute new cartoon Christmas movie on Netflix. Really liked it! It’ll be one that we want to watch again next year.
THEN we moved downstairs and watched two episodes of THE MANDALORIAN - the 8 episode STAR WARS show on Disney Plus. Ryan is rewatching it with us so we can be ready for the final episode next Friday night. It was definitely a movie day!
Dad and I were in bed by 9:30 to compensate for a late night on Thursday! So tired!