Stir Crazy

 Michael:
busy at work, and started being busy at church this week. We both had lots of weekday and Sunday zoom meetings this week and we're out of practice with that stuff. It's fun that he's the Temple & Family History leader and I'm the counselor in Relief Society on that committee though, so we're overlapping just a bit. He pointed out my Grandpa Miner doesn't have any photos of him on Family Search so today my dad emailed me some that he has and I updated his profile on there. I miss my grandparents. I want Westin and Bennett to know about them more. Also this is totally random, but I was obsessed with My Best Friend's Wedding growing up and still love the movie, and Michael totally looks like Michael in that movie and just more and more as years go by. He's a good-looking guy and I'm lucky :) This random bit of information is inspired by Michael wearing a different pair of glasses today because Bennett lost his others and he just looks good. Whoever finds the glasses gets our last gingerbread cookie, so, Westin's motivated. And Bennett's clueless.

Maddie:
I feel like I'm feeling a lot of Covid effects late in the game. Camden used to be a content baby, but now he's not. My kids used to be young enough that home was what we knew, but now they crave school. I used to be a homebody as I geared up for then experienced  a move, but now we're ready to have people over and reach out more and it's just still a funny time. So I'm feeling Covid pains that people have been feeling for months and months but somehow it just feels like it's catching up to us extra this month. I cross-stitched for the first time in Colorado today because I'm DONE painting everywhere except my laundry room. And I'll just take my time there because, #laundryroom. I'm so happy to be done with so much painting.

Westin:
loves school but loves complaining about online school. Oh how he misses going. He talks about it all the time. "I just love school so much -- being there. I just love going." He gets into Bingo and their "Holidays around the World" projects, but getting on is always moody and he has just been significantly grumpier ever since we went back to remote learning. He's getting older, and more complicated to parent, and more wonderful all the time. But admittedly all my post-bedtime nights are full of guilt about all the moments I wish I was more patient with Westin. He's so great, and sometimes so hard. 

Bennett:
Bennett missed one of his two days of school this week because of a runny nose. He's fine, but we just wanted to be extra careful. Then Thursday he was able to go. On Wednesday we met with his school teacher and speech therapist over Zoom to discuss his IEP, and it was fun to hear more about how he is at school. Bennett is so sweet and hard-working, and they see that too. He's making a lot of progress and we have goals to work on together. I also started the 100 Lessons book to teach him to read and he liked the first three lessons a lot.

Camden:
is so giggly at times and so WHINY most of the other times. On Thursday he whined or cried almost constantly from wake up to nap time. I'd like to say I handled it gracefully and put my projects aside and managed to help Westin with school while also consoling Camden, but really I just cried in the bathroom for a bit and struggled through putting blinds up while helping Westin while trying to comfort Camden and questioned all of those choices at the same time. He's a great sleeper though, and we're still spinning around at bedtime to distract him from crying, and then he leans in for some eskimo kisses and giggles and goes to sleep easy. He crawls a little more these days but still booty scoots forcefully. We love this cutie Cam Cam.

Kitty:
Just living her best Colorado life still.

Kitty is so cozy in the morning. But she was instantly ready for a good time
when these two woke her up with a shoelace to catch.

Camden is starting to play with Duplos and it's a game changer!
These two are playing together a little more when Westin does his online school.

The stool! I love it so much.
Michael did a great job and I love the way the layered stains turned out against
the white paint I had on hand.

Ordered the boys' yearbooks for their stockings. This is a labor of love.

Westin's been talking and talking about making gingerbread men, so we finally did!
This made us a little lonely. We always made these with his whole crew in Fresno and it was one of our favorite traditions there. We miss having people over.

Eyes are always a favorite.

Hanging these blinds during Westin's school while Camden was whiny was one of the most defeated days of my life. It just was. Every little thing went wrong and I did a horrible job, but it's up and I really love them.

Kindergarten chaos. We're grateful Grandpa Daetwyler made us a huge table,
because apparently you need all that space for remote kindergarten :)
Reallyl though, this table is my favorite thing in my house, and someday we'll eat here more often when kindergarten is more in school and less at home.

Christmas toast. One of those lazy dinners that kids are thrilled about.

When I bundled Westin up he said, "I was made for the snow!"

Both blinds up!
Squint and pretend the kindergarten chaos isn't there.
This is my favorite room right now.
Last thing it needs is a new light, and I think I've decided on one.
So the next step is to leave it in my cart for a couple weeks and just keep looking at it.
You know the drill.

Bennett made all sorts of snow sculptures with a cup.
He stayed busy doing that for so long.

Dentist visit!
No cavities, but SOMEone is getting dangerously close to a couple...
We won't name names. ;)

We were going a little crazy Saturday.
Our boys are getting louder, and crazier, and just MORE in every way,
and we needed out of the house.
So we explored McMurray Natural Area and it was magical with its fresh snowfall.

Camden whined the last half of the walk -- he's never too prepared for the cold because he always yanks everything off. That's the explanation for mom's socks on his hands that go halfway up his arms, instead of little gloves.