i blink january's lashes

it has been a rough first week of 2019! thomas tore a hamstring playing flag football. it has been terrible for him.

i can't show you all the bruise pictures because this is a family blog but imagine this initial bruise:

growing bigger and purpler and greener and blacker and scarier, everywhere. EVERY. WHERE. all the leg nooks and crannies. even the front of his leg had significant bruising. it's like a blood dam burst. he got a shot of morphine in the ER and he said it helped, "a little". 

then i set up reagan's new lava lamp in the kitchen to surprise him after school and athena blythe wanted a closer look and this happened:

and then scarlett dropped a brand new bottle of syrup on the floor:

i was unable to salvage it.

this obscure photo is my ceiling after herschel dropped a cup of chocolate milk on the floor and it splashed and covered a six foot area of the kitchen ceiling:

and because of thomas' injury, the kids have been having a heyday playing, "torn hamstring". no one plays it better than thomas, however. 

hopefully that is the end of the broken things and i can do a good job of not breaking my new year's resolutions. thomas started doing monthly resolutions a few years ago. he gave up quik trip food for a whole month(don't laugh, their pizza is pretty darn good). i like the idea of trying something for a month and then reevaulating. it was a highly effective amount of resolution to bite off for him, so i decided to adopt that practice this year.

resolutions:

1. no more library fines. it's not free library with how many fines i've paid in the last few years. i don't mind supporting the community, but our public library doesn't even have that great of a selection! but, like a dog to it's vomit, i've already checked out a boatload of books that athena blythe will devour and then leave behind the basement couch or under a mattress in a room she doesn't even sleep in. 

2. try to adopt kale smoothies into my life. after such high quantities of vegetable consumption over the last year in efforts to be "healthy", i almost hate the thought of cooking and eating vegetables. especially reheated vegetables. i'm hoping that if i can make a remotely palatable kale smoothie, i can get my vegetable servings in one shot during the day and not think about it for a while and repair my emotional response to chopping and roasting vegetables. i don't want to hate vegetables but zoodles are not noodles and i'm tired of lying to myself. vegetables are great and should not be a chore. i want to be friends with them again.

3. avoid going to the store every day. i want to get away from easy access to the store and retrain myself and my family that we don't need to jump in the car the moment we run out of something. there are clear exceptions and emergencies, like deodorant and toilet paper. but for the love of cross stitch, we can handle going a few days without chocolate milk! how about scrambled eggs for breakfast if we are out of my kitchen floor nemesis, cereal? this will require me to fine tune my list making, menu planning product consumption projection along with kitchen and bathroom inventory. plus, i'll save money by not picking up several unplanned extras with each unplanned grocery store trip. i cringe when i think of how susceptible i am to "good deal" impulse purchases that really aren't a good deal if i don't need it. unless it's like that time if found 5 lbs of pepperoni marked down 75%! deal of a lifetime i am STILL reaping the benefits from. 

wabi sabi christmas

wabi sabi- the beauty and appreciation of the imperfect, incomplete and impermanent.

a brief snippets post since december's activities make a writing cohesive narrative difficult. 

we had our ward christmas party. it was yet another santa claus free christmas party. it was fine. i love jesus, i also don't think santa claus is the devil. the funeral potatoes were good. i was hoping for baked macaroni and cheese. i made an ugly yet delicious christmas tree cake at the children's behest. scarlett was an angel in the nativity production. reagan was a wise man. somehow at the last minute, athena blythe and her little friend finagled parts as angels too.

 we did a low key christmas fondue.i'm trying to make christmas traditions about fun and togetherness and not necessarily the same traditions each year. some are just not always doable and some traditions need to die.

 herschel had his MUCH anticipated christmas program at his preschool. he practiced his songs for months. nothing invites the spirit of the season like, "all aboard the christmas express, toot toot". that was not me, that's part of the song.

we tried to make gingerbread cookies. no one likes gingerbread cookies that much anyway.

we had friends over to watch the BYU potato bowl game. we ate pulled pork on baked potatoes and played the dreidel game with hershey kisses.

 we also lit a bunch of candles and called it a menorah because athena blythe was really into judaism this year. 

 three cheers for me because i skipped my big workout of the week and took the kids for doughnuts. the fitness industry would have you believe that you can never miss a day or you're a failure, but i'll tell you what, they are wrong. also, can we stop saying, "werk, grind, slay all day, and swaaat". thanks. i don't even like doughnut. i'd like more drive-thru brownie places.

we drove over to bethlehem, georgia to watch their live nativity. this is something that i would like to attempt to do every year. 

a sister from church made this for ME. asian, quilting, wall art. i didn't know she knew me that well. but this is going in a place of honor for the rest of my life. i didn't know i had a thing for handmade gifts until i realized that some of my favorite things are fabric art. a cross stitch made by my sister in law sarah when reagan was born, a quilt made by my dearest friend jessica when athena blythe was born and now this!

christmas eve. it was low key. we read scriptures. we snuggled. i actually had a bunch of wrapping paper this year so there were no panicked last minute drives to the store and i went small on the gift giving this year so there wasn't much wrapping. i like doing it this way. 

we got a new 9 foot tree and i let the kids hang the ornaments however they wanted. note the one lone ribbon hanging off the edge that herschel hadn't finished pulling off yet. that's our look this year. wabi sabi christmas- the beauty and appreciation of the imperfect, incomplete and impermanent. being laid back is a-okay. except for kitchen organization. but now i can say, "remember when i let everyone decorate how they wanted? then put everything away in the kitchen exactly how i like."

 i just love this view. we have no more couch throw pillows because of various spills and illnesses, we have a million toys under the couch, the ceiling fan always has dust but it's almost always on so it's hard to notice, we have a picture of jesus on the table. wabi sabi!

the future of america, ladies and gentlemen:

 note from santa about getting a dog. we already discussed how that went. wah wah. cue the price is right loser music.

reagan always asks for an addition to his puppet collection and this year he wanted a snake puppet. he named him snake claus. 

 i found this 1983 herschel walker sports illustrated magazine at a thrift store for a $1. it's torn so it has no "value" on the antique market but the tear means nothing to me when it can still be displayed as art. i framed it for thomas. thomas and i have bonded over art in our advanced years.

 reagan, wearing a muppet shirt, holding a muppet shirt. best quote of the morning, "i love it when the presents are for me." saying what we're all thinking.

a french beret for our fancy french girl. athena blythe also really wanted some a nutcracker doll for christmas. she's read several versions of the nutcracker this season and wanted one of her own. i bought her 3 small christmas ornament sized nutcrackers. she opened them with glee and exclaimed, "now i can build my army!" which i do not doubt in the least. 

we now have 4 scooters and we can all scooter together. that's the secret to parenting: no sharing.

 after christmas i scrambled to think of fun, outdoorsy, safe for all ages, inexpensive things to do. the first day was a bust because everything was closed at this tiny outdoor shopping and skating area. 

 but this was an unexpected surprise in the middle of rural georgia:

you don't see plaques quoting the book of mormon every day in the bible belt. i bet most people think mosiah is isaiah's younger, more obscure brother. 

again, so cute! so closed!

singing the december 26th blues

the following saturday we all went to monroe, georgia for the day. we ate at chik fil a, by request, but we explored this darling little town. this is our second year coming here at the holiday's and it's a fun tradition. one day i will come alone because it is a treasure trove of antiques and collectibles. good stuff. not just kinda old stuff, roughed up by an amateur to make it look old. someday i want to explore long enough to find a complete 70s china set for every day use. WHY NOT!?

our favorite book shop. the fun parent was there so books were purchased while i stood back and furrowed my brow and thought, "the library is free!" unless you have $40 in fines. stop it. i don't know how it happens. okay i do know. kids lose everything!

i've tried twice now and i cannot get an image that will do justice to this "the lion, the witch and the wardrobe" closet to story time secret passage room. 

hard cider in the hobbit house

athena blythe was done participating and read her new book at every stop from hereon out.

everywhere we went people asked if we were the babysitters! i imagine it's because i was so calm and collected and rested looking the whole time. 

full disclosure in tiny print, i used a filter on this photo.

 we ate ice cream. i trapped thomas in a small art museum for way longer than anyone wanted to be there.

we drove home. i fell asleep watching the college football playoff semi-final. i wish i could have slept through the national championship game and put myself out of my misery but i was wide awake and full of coaching and player critiques like the dedicated, loving super fan that i am.