Tidbits

Sometimes the girls can be so sweet to each other. This is Sydney kissing Ireland as she's sleeping.

From Sydney who wanted Brent to tie a blanket around her so she'd look like a princess-

Brent: Why don't you ask one of your sisters?
Sydney: *mournfully* Well Liesel's lazy and she won't do it and Ireland's lazy and she won't do it and Gita... Gita just HATES me so she won't do it!

After Christmas the girls were eager to use up the gift cards they received in their stockings so we headed downtown to the American Girl Store. 

Brent was a trooper.

Liesel is showing her maturity and wasn't quite as interested in the dolls as she was in getting to Sephora to check out the makeup. 

She's all filters and selfies these days! We had fun at Sephora.

Her Young Women leaders decorated her room while she was at school. It's hard to see but they put confetti on her desk and left a little goodie bag as well.

Sometimes when I make the girls hug it out after a fight, it's a much worse punishment for one of them than it is for the other.

Cookie season is upon us! We are so very grateful to anyone who buys as we have these 4 to support. I love Girl Scouts and the opportunities it provides for these girls to serve and get involved in our community.

There's nothing particularly special about this video- it's just Gita putting on her boots as she gets ready for school. All the girls love wearing high heels and I wanted to capture a moment where Gita could explain why she loves them so much and how she looks at this age, getting ready for school. I have a feeling that when I am old and funny, these everyday kind of videos will mean the most to me.

During FHE the girls reenacted Laban refusing to give the plates to Nephi and his brothers. I thought Ireland's beard was pretty inventive and they all made sure to wear sandals in keeping with people who would have lived in Jerusalem around 600 BC.

I'm pretty sure the file room at work is haunted. It's in a remote corner of the building so when I have to file something I leave a note on my friend Laura's desk so someone knows I'm down there. One day she left early and I jokingly left another note on her desk stating that I'd died down in the file room. She made me this and it cracked me up!

I took Liesel to a GEMS Conference (Girls in Engineering, Math & Science).

Aside from some pretty cool activities, there were break out sessions and a career fair. She was able to talk to women who work in all kinds of jobs she'd never even heard of.

Here she is trying her hand at some coding. I think the one that made the biggest impression on her was the girl who worked in construction. She had worked on Disneyland as well as the new Starbuck's Roastery here in Chicago. 

On Thursday nights the older 3 girls are at dance so I pop Sydney in the bath and then we read to each other. I love this little bit of time we have, just the two of us.

One thing I definitely have taken for granted is the pictures the girls have drawn me. Somehow it never dawned on me that there is an age limit to these drawings and now the Liesel and Ireland don't do them anymore, I just relish it when I get one from Brititta or Sydney. 

I love the way Sydney drew me with high heels!

I've had the girls practicing the KonMari method of folding clothes, but the girls took it to the next level:

Chocolate Challenge

While all of the girls began the chocolate challenge, Liesel was the only one to go the distance. Even though she could have chocolate as of January 1, she held off because she was determined to do the challenge for a second year in a row. Liesel wanted to make sure she wasn't in any way disqualified. Finally I grabbed a slice of the insanely good chocolate cake from Portillo's. 

Brent felt like that was enough, but if Liesel really was going to go a full 2 years without any chocolate, I wanted her to pick out a decadent chocolate dessert of her own. We snuck away to the Cheesecake Factory where she ordered the s'mores cheesecake.

An excellent choice!

We had our chocolate party the Sunday evening before Martin Luther King Jr Day so we wouldn't feel too guilty about sugaring up kids who have school the next day. Just like last year, I was so busy hosting, I couldn't snap photos. This is the only one I have! We borrowed this adorable peg board donut holder from a friend and you can see the chocolate fountain station getting set up in the background. 

The party was ok- I think everyone had a good time- but I was a little frustrated with it as well. We didn't have bowls for the ice cream so no one really ate that. Brent didn't pick up mini candy bars because last year we had so many leftovers. No one really ate the cupcakes and I was frantically making BYU mint brownies and forgot they are meant to be thin, so I cooked them in a pan rather than a cookie sheet. They were so thick, they were like a sugar bomb and well, those weren't super popular either. It seemed like we had 3 different kinds of chocolate cake. 

 Again, I think everyone had a good time- Liesel definitely did, which is the important thing. Once success is that months ago a dear friend gave me his punch bowl and tiny cups, which I was finally able to pull out and use. Some punch was a nice change from all the chocolate, for sure.

Ireland has already declared she is taking a break from the challenge for a year but Liesel is determined to make some more money and Brigitta really seems interested as well. We will see who goes the distance!

Marie Kondoing the Books

CLFOGE- or Crystal Lake Friends of Gifted Education has an annual book sale. The amount of books they collect and then resell is overwhelming but when I saw our old books could go to a good home and support a program our children use, I was all for it. Convincing Brent was another story. 

I had binged Tidying Up with Marie Kondo and reread her book so I knew my first move was to pull out all the books and put them in huge piles:

Marie Kondo is right- it's not until you see the pile that you can confront what you have amassed over the years.

I gave Brent a quick rundown of her advice- do the words of the title mean something to you? Will you read this book again or is it just something you've been holding on to because it once meant something or it cost money?

At the end of the day, we were able to fill that laundry basket you see in the back for donation. Brent actually shocked me with how much he was willing to part with- he's usually a very sentimental guy. We were left with a nice, tidy pile that we artfully rearranged in the newly dusted shelves of the office. 

And it felt SO good! I love clearing out stuff.

Back in the Saddle

Virginia Woolf once wrote, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." The moment I left work to raise my girls is the moment I was financially uncomfortable. My mother worked, and I never intended on being a kept woman. While I'm so very grateful for the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom, and I'm very aware it's a luxury not afforded to all, I knew it was time to re-enter the work force. 

Initially my plan was to take an extra year to work on house projects and volunteer at the school but I found myself asking for applications at stores I really liked (and wouldn't mind having a discount at) and casually bringing up the topic with working mothers I know and trust. My ego really took a beating as I was interviewed by people younger than me, less experienced than me, telling me I wasn't a good fit. People in the retail places I tried were friendly to me when I walked through the door and then icy when I asked for an application, "I don't think we are hiring" was the comment swiftly handed out along with the form.

The most insidious thing on that piece of paper was this, the spot asking for work experience but only in the last 10 years. All I had was volunteer work- even though I have successfully held down a steady paying job since I was 14.

It was hard not to feel like the sum of my life was the meager, pathetic things I managed to put on those applications. There was no section for how I handled Ireland's many asthma hospitalizations, or being alone and pregnant with 3 kids- one of whom was only 6 months old. There wasn't a section for how many loads of laundry I roll through a week or the discounts I find while shopping or my superb organizational skills. All they cared about was if I had worked. And I had worked, but not in a way that counted.

Finally I found a sympathetic soul at one of the temp agencies. Initially I was going for just a part-time gig,  just 15-20 hours a week. Imagine my surprise when she found me a full-time position at a bank. One phone interview later and bada bing I had a job- albeit temporarily. After two months, (and some salary negotiation), I was hired permanently.

I love working. I love the feeling of the cogs turning in my head again. I love paying my own credit card. I love contributing to my family's financial success, even if it's in a very, very small way. I love that my girls see me working.

This may not be forever- if I'm needed at home again I'd walk away in a heartbeat. But even if this is a brief season of life to be back at work, for now I'm really happy.

New Years in Iowa City

Normally I don't feel a yen to travel during the winter months but I just needed to get out of town so I packed up the girls and headed to Iowa City. I wish everyone was as happy to greet us as Dakota is!

Whitney and Tim pulled out their Nintendo ring and let the girls try out a game. It was a pretty high energy game and the girls just loved it. I love how it wore them out. 

The Iowa City Children's Museum is an oldie but goodie and they had a new exhibit where they could try rug boarding. Again, the girls loved it!

And since we were already at the mall, we just had to stop by Zombie Burger for their Walking Ched and a couple of their shakes which are freakishly amazing. Sadly, I only snapped a pic after we had all torn into it so this isn't the most appetizing looking meal here.

We stopped by Logan's and Gita fell in love with his cats. His cats were somewhat less in love with Gita.

This one- named Buttercup- was pretty chill and let her snuggle.

We also made sure to stop by Good Vibes for to say hi to Krystal and nosh on some yummy café treats!

It was a great little visit!

Bowling

Colonial Lanes in Iowa City really hasn't changed since I was a child. Somehow it even smells the same! It's definitely not as new and flashy as some bowling lanes, but there's something familiar- not just the smell. I have so many happy memories there. Not to mention it's open on New Year's Day which made it the perfect place to take my girls. It was nice to see them cheer each other on.

That middle one is my favorite- with all their heads together- it just warms the cockles of my heart!

The ball return really is kind of fascinating!

If you enter yourself as a child, little gates come up to block the gutter. Even so, the girls (especially Gita) managed to get a few gutter balls.

 Bowling is an activity where your form can be pretty horrible and you can still score.

Bowling is also a pretty simple game. It's easy for a kid to "get it" and experience the highs...

...and the lows.

Kid's also have the magical ability to roll the ball in a way that takes it forever to get down the lane!

It was a fun way to start the New Year. Hopefully the next time the girls have to heft a heavy ball or rent shoes, they'll have fond memories of bowling, like I do.