The Last Bits of the Holiday Season Recorded

It's 10:30 p.m. Thursday night. My fingers, despite multiple scrubbings, are coated with a thin layer of super glue (thanks to an unexpected series of events that ended in me and Mike banning super glue from any future use in our home), but that hasn't stopped me from sitting here in our living room--typing at my newly-gifted computer while half watching a "Halloween Week" episode of The Great British Baking Show with the oldest three girls. (This is just why I wanted a laptop of my own: to edit photos and write without having to be somewhat tucked away from the family goings on.) 

Abe is in the loft above us--working on taxes. 

The younger seven, if not yet fully asleep (we just heard singing carry up from Summer's room at the base of the stairs--"bind me not to the pasture, chain me not to the plow"), are, at least, all tucked in bed. 

Mike is at a bishopric meeting. (One can never quite be sure when he'll return from those, but he's finished with his spell of particularly impossible work hours, so there's a great relief in my heart knowing that tonight's absence won't continue into tomorrow ... and tomorrow ... and tomorrow.)

The cats have been tossed outside and their food bowls all filled.

And, in general, we've left the wildness of winter break behind:

Christmas decorations are mostly put away.

New toys have found their spots in our home.

The non-college kids started back to school yesterday. (And I'm back to 6:30 wake-ups and full mornings of scriptures, and "get dressed!", and hair-doing, and breakfasting, and finding shoes, and "feed your chickens!" and "who let Biscuit in?", and "where's your book-club book?", and calling for coats and backpacks, and cleaning snow off cars, and, when I return from dropping them at school, looking at what the rush has done to the state of the house with a bewildered, "How?")

And, over the weekend, the older three will be leaving us again--south to Provo and north to Logan--for another semester of college.

BUT! I haven't wrapped up all that might be told about the holidays yet!

There was my birthday after all. "This will be your best birthday ever," Mike told me (in reference to the few hours he'd have off in the morning before heading to work till midnight). "As long as you're from a place where people are unaccustomed to birthdays and think they end at noon." 😆

And our anniversary! 23 years! That number is significant to me as we were married the day after my 23rd birthday and so have now matched our years apart with years ... together! (The other day I told him that our marriage was probably the happiest part of my life. He, of course, immediately countered with, "Our marriage is definitely the happiest part of my life". And I had to quickly backpedal: "I didn't mean 'probably'! No 'probably'!") Here are a few photos of him with a baby nonchalantly slung in his arms. (I only went back a few years to find these, but ought to have found two decades worth of this happy sight.)

(In order from top to bottom we have Starling, Summer, Mette, Hans, Hans, Starling.)

And there was New Year's Eve--wherein the older kids made up to the kids the lost Christmas-Eve-Day plans. Abe took the boys to a small, old-school arcade; as well as to the Hill Aerospace Museum. And the older girls (minus poor Penny who was working) took the little girls to the aquarium. (And I got some much-needed cleaning and quiet in before our late night of root beer floats and games.)

And, the Monday after New Year's Day, Mike took the kids to some fun center with roller skating and foam pits (and then even brought dinner home afterwards).

And that night Uncle Dave dropped off stuff for homemade root beer.

And Mike even took the older half of our kids night skiing this week. (Though there are no pictures to prove it.)

Between the awful round of illness, an abnormal number of small-kids-fighting-and-or-screaming episodes, etc. there was a lot that felt overwhelming and difficult over the holidays; so the events above are a good reminder that much fun and happiness existed alongside all of that! 

And, to end, a few random Dec. photos left floating around.

Goldie was reading a book with a cover that the kids all thought looked very creepy. So they covered it with one that was slightly less creepy ... but still creepy.

Everyone snacking on something or other.

Abe attempted to go ice climbing with Devin and Melissa. Sadly the snow had covered and frozen over the chains and though they broke a lot of ice, they were unable to find the chains.

A Bob Ross painting night. (After Penny and I had retired from the event.) 

A live nativity.

Summer cuddling the yeti a friend gifted her for Christmas.

Coloring?

Anders and his new Bigfoot blanket.

This note just makes me laugh. Summer prepared me a bowl of cereal for my birthday breakfast. And left this note with it. It's very telling about the type of house we were living in all Christmas break. 

Goldie and Penny spent a night in Provo with Daisy when she had to be down there working for a few days. Only these two pictures exist from their sister adventuring. 

Starling is often a good little snuggler.

Mike and I snuck out on a little date once he was around again. We look like we are photoshopped onto this background.