Zackrison Sisters Update

It's my turn to host the update again.  Enjoy!

Sarah:

Last weeks:
-moved Huck out of the nursery - he had started sleeping in June's room a couple months ago but all his clothes and stuff was still in his old room. This required sorting through all of June's clothes too and cleaning out the closet.) Now we can call it Huck & June's room and his old room can be called the new baby's room.
-lost my ankles. My swelling is worse with this pregnancy than I remember ever before.
-lots of rooftop concert planning. Finally secured our funding for the season which is a nice relief. But we're a little in scramble mode now.
-made good progress on my work project, but still need one last push to get it handed off before my leave
-got June's dental work done - 3 cavities filled and a silver crown. Went ahead and put her to sleep for this one
-opened a couple new band accounts for the various business endeavors we have going. That will really simplify reconciliation and record keeping to have them separated.


Next week:
-rooftop concert on Friday! So far the weather's looking great. My hope is to teach others how to do all the jobs I do so next month I can have a baby.
-dr appt on monday. I don't love my midwives (had to switch due to insurance change last year) plus they are far away and I'm busy and think I know enough about having babies by now. Consequently I haven't been in very much this time around. But now I'm getting curious about how I'm measuring and baby's position and what to plan/expect for the delivery so I'm motivated to go in again.
-I'd like to get a new crib, even though it is hard to justify. Spending some time watching the classifieds and dreaming of the hand-crafted land of nod options.
-need to bring up the newborn boy boxes from the basement and assess how well equipped we are for this new baby to come. I bought some newborn diapers and pacifiers the other day. Oh man it's getting real. Now if only we could think of a good name.
-I've really got to get my work project done so I can move on to cleaning my house and doing the laundry.
-finalize a couple lower lights concerts for June and December.
-pedicure?! Massage?! Wouldn't that be so great. Maybe more realistic for next week's post-concert/post-work project plan.
-plant our vegetable garden. Every year I do it too late and I fear I'm missing the window yet again

Annee:

 Past Weeks:

-new van got on the insurance!
-George and Jane got their cavities filled. One each. Not too bad!
-subbed two days in a row!  Art one day, Jane's K/1 class the next. I managed okay, but my feet were aching by the end. Apparently you spend a LOT of time on your feet when you are being a school teacher for the day.
-an early release day where George had a playdate so I took the other three out to lunch, just for fun. Lately these kids can almost always talk me into going out on a food outing. I seem to feel hungry almost all the time. When I'm not hungry it might be because I have heartburn.
-an Earth Day play for the ladies had me at Old Navy like three days in a row. I just couldn't seem to get it right for them. In the end, the play was not a big enough deal for me to have worried on their behalf so much. They did great in the play!
-we had our big ultrasound!  The mystery was discovered, we'll be having one BOY and one GIRL. Everyone is so happy. It makes it feel so much more real now. I'll look at Jane and Ruby sitting at the table eating, or crafting together and imagine that one day their sister will be sitting there next to them. Kind of melts my heart. And the boy!  I hope he's coming good and strong, able to stand up to the three sisters who he will have as his mother-hens!  Henry is afraid he won't be here long enough to influence him and that he might be wimpy under the influence of so many girls. I tell him to rest easy, his dad is pretty good at making boys tough. It's going to be great.
- Liberty Antique Festival as our weekend date. We woke up early on Saturday, got donuts and chocolate milk for the kids, and told them not to fight while we were gone. We made it back by noon to find all getting along perfectly fine still in their pajamas. I almost thought we were going to leave the Festival empty handed, then at the last minute we found the perfect three piece wicker set for the front porch. It's not terribly "antique" which is kind of perfect because then it might last through a move or two yet to come :) Of course, I'm thinking of painting it, and making pillows, etc. Love it!

This Week:

-I'm working on some sewing projects that I'm pretty excited about. I have two smaller things to finish and then I want to make my most epic quilt to date. This one I think really is going to turn into an heirloom. But it's going to be so much work, and hurt my back so much, that I'm kind of scared. But I also know that this might be my last chance to take on such a project for a while, so I think I'm just going to go for it!  No pain, no gain!
-enjoy our last week before swim-team starts. When it does start, it's every day of the week!
-Go on the zoo field trip,  if I can't make Darin feel sorry enough for me to go in my place!
-volunteer at the spring book fair.
-Friday is our BIG date to go see "Wicked" at the Durham Performing Arts Center. I'm so excited. I hope Darin finishes his two final papers that are due on Friday before our 8pm curtain time!
-we have some details to work out about our summer travels. It's maybe time to inspect the plan closely, and fill in a few gaps, etc. My OB is worried about the current plan, of me being gone for five weeks. I need to go to a few more appointments to figure out if she is worried specifically about something, or if pregnant ladies with twins, traveling in their third trimester make her nervous in general.


Ana:

Wish I had shut my closet door...

Last week:

-Will sat up (tripod) for a few minutes on his own!  Whoo hoo!
-Will rolled over back to belly, over and over and over again.  Once in hot pursuit of a sneaky butternut squash. :)
-We instituted a new Wii rule in our house.  It used to be that Jack could only play Wii while Will was sleeping so he would be quiet, but it was eating into my alone time with Jack.  Now he can only play his allotted time while Will is awake.  That way I get some concentrated Will time and then concentrated Jack time.  So far it's made a difference in Jack's happiness level at home.  Now we spend Will's naps reading books together, playing board games or making banana pancakes together.  So much nicer.
-Went out to dinner with my sister's family.  All of the kids were so well behaved, we actually got to have conversations.  I guess the planets must have aligned because it was a lovely meal.  William tried avocado for the first time and went to town on it.  That boy loves food.  Loves it.
-Met up with friends at/after Dodgeball. Its so nice to have good girl friends.  They make me feel understood and sane. 
-Found out the big open field out of our window is not going to be developed any time soon.  I was panicking that it would be so noisy we'd have to move.  Its already been 7 moves in the almost 10 years Zack and I have been married.  I'm just not ready to move again so soon.
-Discovered that Will has no idea how to take a bottle which greatly reduces the amount of time I can spend away from him.  He has had maybe 3 or 4 bottles in his life just to make sure he would drink from one if we needed, but I guess I needed to do it more frequently because he thinks its a funny joke.
-Sent Jack to bring your kids to work day with Zack.  He had a great time and Zack even managed to do a bit of work.  Jack came home exhausted from his work day.
-Took Will in for his ear check and makeup shot appointment (we are finally caught up!).  Will is now 19.5 lbs.  If we stand him on his feet he towers over other 1 year olds we know. 


This week:
-Month end at work, Father son campout on Friday night (William is not invited unfortunately),Swim lessons, hopefully buy airline tickets for Christine's wedding, dodgeball lessons, library visits, down time with Will, down time with Jack, and maybe just maybe some down time with Zack.

Ie Li:
(No photo this time...she is pregnant and sick so she gets a pass)
Last couple of weeks:

• Steve turned 30!  We celebrated on Sunday with some cheesecake, cannolis, and crepes.  The kids blew his candles out for him.   They couldn't help it.  
• We finally bought a mattress.  It will be delivered today, thank goodness.  
• Stephen's t-ball and Mei Li's soccer games.  Sports have officially overwhelmed our schedule, especially on Saturdays.  
• Ate at McDonald's at least every other day.  It's two minutes away from our house so if I can't seem to find anything desirable to eat at home, I go there.  
• Thursday was take your child to work day!  The kids had a blast at Steve's office.  I took Mi Na back to Oakton to visit some friends.  I was able to visit five friends.  By the end of it all, I was ready for a nap. 
• Hired a babysitter on Friday between 5:30 and 11:30.  Steve and I tested out mattresses and then drove over to Potowmack Farm for Steve's birthday dinner with Rachel, Ken, Christine, and Jon.  Jon's attendance was a complete surprise.  The food was good and the setting was beautiful.  It was just so nice to sit and talk for hours without the kids.

This Week:

• Mei Li will go to a full day of school on Wednesday.  I bet she'll be pretty tired when she gets home.
• On Thursday, we'll go to Mei Li's kindergarten performance.  Mei Li says it's "tip-top secret," but I think a hoe-down will be involved.  :)
• Soccer and T-ball
• I will be 14 weeks pregnant on Thursday, I hope that the nausea magically comes to an end then.  I have been a horrible mother and wife.  Steve has been very kind about taking care of everything when he gets home from work.  
• I have a midwife appointment this week.  There are six midwives at this practice and I am excited to meet a new one.  My mother was a little concerned when I told her that I was seeing midwives instead of an OB.  She felt better when I told her I would be giving birth in a hospital and not at home.  
• Make dinner!  Last week, I made dinner once, an improvement over previous weeks.  This week, I'll make dinner twice using the crockpot.  Since morning is my best time of day, I figured that the crockpot was my only hope of getting dinner on the table.  My poor little family has been very patient with me.  

Rachel:

 Last week:

• Busy season ended Tuesday the 17th, and I'm sure you're all as glad as me to be done talking about it!  Fun Facts -- My favorite thing about busy season: being too busy to snack.  My least favorite thing about busy season: all the rounding of numbers I have to do in my head.  I wish everything could just be provided in whole numbers because when you're tired and your eyes hurt it is really annoying to be constantly rounding every number you see. 
  
• I worked from home Wednesday the 18th which was super low key.
• Thursday 19th I went to work and, surprise, I got a 5% bonus!!  Random!  It's so hard to wrap my head around that kind of positive feedback, because I feel in my own head that I could always be doing better so how could they not think the same about me?  It was unexpected and the best part for me was how excited it all made Ken!  Taking notes on the best way to react when our roles are flipped later in life.
• Watched every episode of The Kennedy's on Netflix. 
• Saturday 21st I slept in and went shopping at the Eastern Market Flea. Finally pulled the trigger on a couple Turkish rugs turned into pillows that I've been wanting for a while. Then I brought lunch to ken between his class sessions. Saturday night we met up at the temple for ward temple night. 
• Monday 23 thru Friday 27 at work was full of training and annual review writing/discussing. Blah. 
• Thursday Steve's kids came to work! Was so fun to see them!
• Friday 27th I did some shopping during our training lunch break. I'm making an effort to dress more truly business casual this summer. Most of the summer clothes I have are quite casual so I'm usually pushing the envelope a bit at work. Don't want to feel that way so much anymore. 
• Friday night the 27th we had a birthday celebration dinner with Steve and CZ at Patowmack Farm in Leesburg which is the best wedding venue option at this point!!
• Saturday the 28th was low key, some shopping and organizing. We made pizza after Ken got home from work which we haven't done in ages. It was raining hard all day. We stayed home that night which was totally boring and blah. 
• Sunday the 29th was church, dinner at a ward member's house, then we started a massive spring cleaning and organizing project. Our clothing/closet situation is so dysfunctional that it was time for an OVERHAUL. We totally rearranged everything to make room for a large new wardrobe in the guest room which we desperately need. 

This week

--Pick a hotel/bed & breakfast/apartment in Paris for our trip. 

--Grocery shop and make some meals for our family again. It's been a while. 

--My car is at the shop this week for repairs so I can pass safety inspection. We will do some creative car sharing that will mean mostly running/walking home from work for me. 

--Look at invitations with CZ on Tuesday after work

--Continue massive organizing and purging. Buy and put together new wardrobe from Ikea. 

--Friday at work everyone is going to the Dulles Sportsplex for a huge Tax Olympics day. It'll mostly be fun the have CZ there with us too!!

--Saturday night is Truckeroo down in DC where all the food trucks gather in one place for the day. A fun novelty activity. 

--More trip planning. 

--Next Thursday May 10th is the This American Life live show that CZ and I are going to see at the movie theatre. 

--GET A HAIRCUT! Agh!

--Manicure/pedicure finally? That could be nice. 

--I actually do have a lot of work to get done this week on projects I can accelerate and move along before my trip. The summer is going to fly by. 

**Christine gets a pass too this week because she is busy working, planning her August wedding and future life! 

Snug as a Bug in a Rug

I know it's a crummy photo but I LOVE having these guys all snuggled up in my bed on a lazy Saturday morning.   

It's a little piece of heaven on earth.

Christmas 2011

We did celebrate Christmas this year despite the lack of posting.   The picture quality and editing is horrible, but if I keep waiting to edit the pictures and only post the non-blurry ones, this post will never happen, or at least happen picture-less.

Christmas Eve we had Dani's family over for dinner and some last minute Santa cookie making.

We read the Christmas story out of the bible while drinking monkey drinks 2 at a time to make sure he was in bed before Santa came.

We took a Christmas Eve family photo to document that there were four of us this Christmas season

As you can tell there were no perfect shots (just feet covered, crazed look shots and me in my grubby clothes)  But we took the pictures none the less!

 The still warm cookies were left out with egg nog to help keep Santa's energy level up on his busiest night.

We all got to bed early and were awoken by a clean teethed Jack who had already made his bed at 6 am.  We managed to roll ourselves out of bed.  Will did not.

We busted quietly though the wrapping paper barracade Santa had left us

To see the splendor left below.  Santa must have thought we were really good this year.

We started opening presents

Santa always brings Pez.  I don't know why cause it's just gross.  But year after year it finds its way into our stockings

In true Jack style, he wanted me to open a present first

Jack loves helping 

We didn't forget about Will Baby upstairs

Thanks Aunt Sarah for getting William's stocking made in time for his first 

Christmas!

Finally awake!

Wait he's missing something

There.  Much better.

Jack got his much hoped for Brady jersey in red. 

And felt compelled to make this face while striking this pose

William got the marshmallows for our new smores' machine

He seemed less then impressed

Mom really wanted a nap

(Maybe they won't see me if I lie in the wrapping paper and cover myself with my hands?)

The guys keep going even though it looks like William is ready for a nap too

The aftermath

Who on earth is going to clean up this mess?

How Jack spends his days

Here's a few pictures I've taken of Jack recently to document one of his new favorite past times...

I love that I am starting to have to ask him multiple times to stop reading and come have dinner, brush his teeth, or hop in the car instead of having to ask him to turn off the wii.    Sure we still have to work on the multiple times part, but he's a work in progress :)

Some Will Baby photo love

Don't you just want to reach through your computer and kiss him!!!

Passing time

One of the best things about living close to my sister in San Diego, is when the fates align and our kids don't nap on the same days and we decide the best way to make it through the rest of the day until dads come home is to go to the beach.

We had a lovely time swinging the kids at the beach park and watching Jack play in the waves and Mads run away from them.

The view from the swings.  Life doesn't get much sweeter then this.

Aren't they all beautiful!

Yesterday Jack and Will both had colds and bad coughs.   Will was a disaster at home so we decided we might as well take our crazy out of the house for a while.  We met Dani's gang at La Jolla Cove to see the seals.  Despite a little mishap of being at the wrong seals, it was the perfect thing to take Will's mind off of his ailing little body.  He was perfectly content in the bjorn blowing spit bubbles and chatting up a storm.   We even saw a guy out walking his bunny on a leash.  He looked a little ashamed to be walking a bunny but I got a real kick out of it.  :)

Jack out on the sea wall (notice the trademark red mustache under Jack's nose.  Courtesy of him not knowing how to blow his nose.  Man, we need to work on that one...)

Me and my little loves

I am a happy lady surrounded by all these handsome guys!

Jack's First T-Ball Team

Jack has wanted to be on a real team for the last two years.  Unfortunately when you move around like we do you inevitably miss all relevant team registration deadlines while doing things like unpacking.  Saturday however, Jack finally joined his first team - The Red Sox.

His first team!!!

Waiting for his turn at bat.   I love how his uniform is not too big to look sloppy but just big enough to make him look like the small fry he still is...

Check out his "I'm ready to catch that ball stance"

First time up to bat with Red Sox Manager Zack :)

Practicing his swing

Dani, Sean and Moo made the event complete.  Jack played first base one inning and got a player out and he made it on base each time he was up to bat.

Will Baby cheering on the Red Sox on the sidelines.

After the first game, our sponsor paid to put all of the kids names on their jerseys.  Super cute!!! 

Looks like our Saturdays are going to be full of T-ball until June!

Dear Jack

Dear Jack,

Today you had your first fight with your best friend.  She's not your first best friend, but you've managed to skate by with your others without a real fight.  Until today.  Maybe it happened today because your best friend is a girl, and guys will never truly understand girls.

You came home and told your father and me that something bad happened at school.  That you had told Claire not to run on the blacktop and how she had told you she knew that already and then burst into tears.  You decided she didn't want to be your friend anymore, came home, threw the worlds largest tantrum and melted down into a big pile of mush.

It makes me remember all the fights I've had with my best friends.  The time my mom left for 20 minutes and when she got home Dani and I were both covered in one another's hand prints, the time Kristen and I fought (over what I don't remember) and my mom drove me over and forced me to apologize (a fact I made sure Kris knew) and we both burst out laughing, and all the times that your dear kind father steps on a hidden landmine and I burst into tears.

My little heart, this is the first of so many days to come where your attitude will be affected by a girl.   You will break some hearts, some will break yours, and one hopefully will make you as utterly complete as your father makes me.

Tomorrow Clarie will forgive you, or maybe she'll even ask you for your forgiveness for falling apart.  Girls are complicated like that.

Love, Mom

Happy President's Day!

First Stroller Ride

Today I put Will into the stroller big-kid style for the first time when we were at the grocery store.  Up until now he's had to be strapped into the bjorne to be happy and my poor back has been suffering, so the fact that we made it through without any major breakdowns is huge in my life. 

When Jack was little he was always in the stroller.  He and I would take walks to the local parks and spend our mornings there with me chattering on about everything under the sun until he was old enough to contribute to the conversation.  Then we talked about the sky, the birds, airplanes, cars, cars and more cars.  We talked about our favorite colors, flowers, and we ate bagels and played at the park.  I remember those days with reverence.  They were sweet simple days.  I know time has made the memories lose their hard moments and left only the good, but seeing Will in his stroller brought those days back.  I can't wait for long lazy days to come with William strapped into the stroller.

And yes, that is a monkey wearing a tie and glasses. :)

Baby Will at 4 months

-Laughs the loudest watching Jack play the wii
-Is happiest with his whole fist wedged in his mouth
-Loves reading Rainbow Rob most of all
-Sobs like the world is over when his bowl of solid food is empty
-Insists on holding the spoon himself 
-Wakes up once a night (totally doable)
-Tolerates all of his animal hats remarkably well
-Still has way more hair in the back of his head then in the front.  I'm contemplating cutting it once again in hopes that it will grow in a bit more evenly this time...
-Has beautiful blue eyes
-Is fascinated by my sparkling water.  It's better then any toy
-Flirts with everyone when we go out
-Drools more then any other baby.  Really its unbelievable what this kid accomplishes
-Cries when his brother cries (actually he waits till Jack's sob is over and then sobs himself until Jack starts up again.  It's a blast.)
-Sleeps to rain noises during naps but wakes up if it really starts to rain
-Growls a lot 
-Hates peas.  He gags on each and every bite I give him
-Loves him some bananas. Gives me dirty looks if I eat one in front of him and don't share
-Has a relatively small belly button in spite of our worries when his doctor said his two clamp belly button was in the top ten she'd ever seen
-Is obsessed with my hair. Loves it when it's in his face
-HATES his car seat. LOVES crying in it
-Won't cry in his carseat as long as both Jack and I can keep singing "8 days a week" by the Beatles
-Cries a little less in his carseat now that I moved Jack one seat further from him and his hair gets rubbed a little less during car rides
-Nurses to sleep (I know I know but it's future Ana's problem)
-Has to be swaddled to sleep in his crib
-Loves being held by Adda because it means he will get to nap in her arms.  She must covers herself with fairy dust because she just lulls him right to sleep.
-Thinks its hilarious when I ask him where the poo poos are. Sorry Zack, he thinks potty talk is funny already
-Loves his bath as long as its empty when he gets in it. Otherwise he hates it and screams
-Loves the bjorne as long as his hands can be folded together like he's saying a prayer
-Is the best gift our family could have asked for

End of an era

It's an end to an era and interesting to be watching Jack's baby teeth fall out just as William's are coming in. 

Zackrison Sister Update

Sarah:

Last weeks:

• Introduced Huck & June to edimame (a snack I only recently discovered myself).They had fun shooting the beans out of the pods and I think they actually ate a few too.
• Hosted a very impromptu non-super bowl party. None of the musicians there were slightly interested in the game, but it was on as an excuse to congregate and eat snacks. I made yummy french dip sandwiches, but otherwise hadn't planned anything ahead so pulled out whatever crackers and chips I could find in the pantry. Certainly nothing pinterest-worthy
• Stake Temple Night
• Got the house appraised - hoping we can finally take advantage of the crazy low interest rates and refinance. Values seem to be coming back up now
• We got a couple inches of snow one day so we rushed to take advantage and go sledding. Oliver and neighbor Julia took Huck & June to the nearby small hill and Brenden went with some friends to go "extreme sledding" - start at the Y parking lot and sled down the mountain on unmarked trails. Sounds safe enough, right? I guess that's what we get for having pre-teen boys and living in the foothills
• Baby shower for Tracy Marben Beals
• All 4 kids went to the dentist, which unfortunately resulted in reprimands for me and 2 cavities for June, 2 extractions + 1 cavity for Oliver, and 2 sealants for Brenden. Oops. Guess my whole approach of buying fluoridated water to avoid the fluoride tablets isn't exactly working.
• Watched as many Downton Abbey episodes as we could find. What will be our next obsession?

This week:

• Finish Oliver's Native American report and papier mache project
• Brenden gets braces on Tuesday
• Playdate with Anson Kendrick - he's been coming over on Mondays while Courtney works on her book
• Plan Oliver's birthday party - he's thinking laser tag with a few friends. Sounds manageable
• Plan & execute valentines cards. Anyone have any fun/easy ideas this year?
• Looks like I'll probably have to take a trip out to Mountain View for work next week.
• Better start doing some Rooftop Concert Series work. Need to send out incentives to people who donated to the kickstarter fund, do some more fundraising for next year, and book the lineup.
• Should probably pull together our tax stuff soon.

Annee:

LAST WEEKish:

-We bought plan tickets!  I walked in from school on Wednesday and Darin said he had gotten a Kayak alert about one of the routes we had told them to watch for us.  It had dropped significantly.  When we logged on to the website, it had dropped another hundred dollars, per ticket, from what the email had advertised.  We couldn't waste our time worry about too many details.  We knew this was a deal we wouldn't be seeing again soon, if ever.  We bought the tickets.  July 1- August 1, we'll be out West.  We want to celebrate dad's 60th birthday in Provo with him.  And we want to see the new baby Wiley.  But we also need to go to Madras for a good chunk of time.  We haven't been there in years.  We're all excited.
-Saturday was the pinewood derby.  We didn't finish in the top three, but we were in the top five.  There was some really, really , really tough competition.  Word in the gym was that the top finisher has been building pinewood derby cars for a decade at least.  George had fun, Darin built his fastest car ever.  Going to show that years of experience really does make a difference.  This might have actually been our last one!
-Subbed four full days last week.  The EC (which stands for "Exceptional Student" but really means the kids with learning plans, and learning disabilities) Aid had asked me MONTHS ago if I could sub for her this week.  Four full days in a row working with the EC kids is not exactly easy.  The easy part about it, versus a class room, is that in total throughout the day, you are only dealing with about ten students.  The hard part, is that those ten students really need a lot of help.  The most interesting part of the job was working with a single 5th grader on math.  It was so frustrating/sad for me to see that no matter what I did, I couldn't help him understand "greatest common factor".  Four days later, and it was still like I was introducing the topic for the first time.  I don't know what it would be like to have a kid who couldn't grasp math topics.  But I realized it is a blessing I haven't appreciated enough.  I don't know what you do in life if you don't understand math?  It felt kind of hopeless to me.  It also made me want to bring him home after school and be his math tutor.  But alas, that won't happen either.
-By Friday I was wiped out!  Darin took to the "working wife" challenge very well, and planned for and cooked three meals for us last week.  I couldn't have loved him more!  Friday we treated ourselves to a lunch date and some shopping.  We skipped our Friday night date since we had had a Friday afternoon date.  No movie this weekend.
-Saturday we went with a group of Darin's friends from school out for Korean food.  This is the first time we've eaten Korean food since leaving Korea.  Seriously.  I won't be going back any time very soon, but I will say that I really enjoyed it.  It's funny how food can transport you.
-Sunday, sharing time and Super Bowl.  I spent all Sunday morning trying to prepare a decent sharing time, while Darin prepared his ribs that he would cook after church in honor of the super bowl.  We instituted a Sunday afternoon quiet time when we saw that waiting until 6:30 for the Super Bowl to start was almost too much to handle.  Things needed to settle down.  I think I ate my weight in chips and various dips, but oh well.  Super Bowl Sunday only comes around once a year.
-I finished my quilt top!!  I think I'll post a finished top picture over on MOM sooner rather than later.  Liz has me convinced that if I forgo running, chores, and everything else responsible today, that by tonight I could have myself a completely finished winter quilt.  I'll admit, I'm tempted to take her challenge.  My agenda today might read, "Finish quilt, at all cost".  We'll see if the Major agrees with my plan for the day ;)

THIS WEEK:

-Subbing on Thursday.
-Finish quilt.
-Run more.  I think I only managed to run twice last week with the subbing.  That's embarrassing.  I need to do better.
-Find a new book to read.  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet will be done in 35 minutes.  I will feel a void when it's over.  I don't know what I'm reading next.  One book club is reading Persuasion.  I feel like I've read that pretty recently.  I don't know if I need to re-read it just yet.  Anyway, anyone have a suggestion?
-Laundry.  I washed two loads of girl clothes last week.  They are still sitting clean in the baskets in the laundry room.  They have been dug through and dumped over so many times that I wonder if they are clean anymore.  I want to wash everything from all all the laundry baskets throughout the whole house, AND put it all away today and tomorrow.  If I can do that, I'm worth a million bucks.
-I need to schedule six dental appointments.  I'm nervous because we haven't been flossing.  I hate getting the flossing lecture twice a year.  It really hurts my feelings.  I know already!
-I need to work on a sewing project for a neighbor.  She asked me if I could sew patio seat cushions for her.  I didn't know how to say no, but I wish I did.  But since I didn't, the only way to get over it, is to just DO IT.  She's going to pay me, but it doesn't make it worth it to me.  I don't like sewing for hire.  I like sewing for pleasure.  It's that simple.
-We need to eat at home this week.  If I'm not working, I need to make sure I have good solid dinner plans.  It just makes life go so much smoother if I am on top of that.
-Sounds like a pretty boring week.  But somewhere in it all, I am happy.

Ana:

(Pre-SuperBowl Loss, and yes that is a build a bear outfit on poor Will)

LAST WEEK:
-Jack lost his first tooth!  It may or may not have been lose.  He has started this bizarre ritual of biting his towel when he gets out of the shower (I have no idea why) and last night his tooth popped out.  I'm sure it must have been at least a little bit lose before right?  He's growing up so fast.
-Took William to his four month appointment only to find that I totally spaced and skipped his two month check up.  Opps... He's a tall guy measuring in at the 86%. He did not do well with his shots.  He screamed the whole rest of the day and refused to sleep.  I am so looking forward to doing his catch up 4 month shots in a few weeks.
-Started our taxes.  Fingers crossed this might be the first time in years we (I) haven't messed up our taxes and owed thousands of dollars.  (Huge sigh of relief)
-There are moments that I just want to go on a crash diet and fit into my normal pants again.  But I love nursing this baby more and try to remember there will be years to be skinny and only this one to nurse Will.
-Got our silly string damaged furniture fixed for free thanks to the warranty.  What the guy was able to do was very impressive.  It made me realize how little I know how to do.
-Watched the Super Bowl.  Jack was devestated at the Patriots loss. He cried and threw his Brady jersey on the floor but on the way home rallied.  He wanted to play football with Zack this morning to cheer himself up.  I guess it's good news that the Patriots haven't made Jack hate football forever. 
-Started William on solid food.  He cries when his bowl is empty.  He really, really loves food.

THIS WEEK:
-Try to figure out Williams new schedule.  Just when I thought I knew what to expect...
-Be on time to pick up Jack everyday.  It's just sad that I'm late.
-Exercise 4 times this week.
-Do more as a family and not separate mom/will and papa/jack groups.



Ie Li:

Last Week:

• Celebrated my friend's birthday with a bunch of girls at Sweetwater Tavern.  As I was getting ready to leave the house for it, Steve explained to Stephen that it was just for moms.  Stephen replied, "I can't go there!  I just know they're all going to kiss me because they love me and want to marry me!"
• Went visiting teaching.
• Steve and Stephen attended Dad's night at the preschool and made a robot together.  They both wore jeans and navy blue BYU t-shirts at Stephen's request.
• Made a heart banner for my mantle.  Stephen and Mei Li helped me trace the heart shapes onto fabric.  This is the most festive I'm going to get.  I might tackle homemade Valentine cards for the classroom parties.
• Continued reading Little Women with Mei.
• Started watching Parenthood with Steve.  We are loving it so far.  
• Kept up with the house cleaning for the most part.  This was not a stellar laundry week.
• Enjoyed three days of spring-like warmth.  It was lovely.
• Went on a dinner date with Steve to a mediocre restaurant.  Next time, we'll stick with our Thai and Indian favorites.
• Did some closet purging.

This Week:

• Continue listening to Cutting for Stone and re-listen to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for book group.
• Make a chocolate cake for no other reason than I've been dying to for the last couple of weeks.
• Stay on top of the laundry.
• Go to the adult stake dance!  I'm not sure what to expect, but Steve and I are open-minded about it.
• Get to bed early and wake up before the kids are up.
• Start making the Valentines.
• More closet purging.

Rachel:

 Last Two Weeks

• We had a successful little dinner party with 6 people.  I made beouf bourguignon, but I took extra time to really make it right and it turned out better than last time.  We sat half around the table and half around the coffee table.  It was really fun.  I am definitely on the lookout for a table with leaves (sp?) because that would completely solve our problems.  (Aside from moving obviously, which is an enjoyable thought AT ALL.)
• We've enjoyed following the presidential debates/race very closely.  Newt Gingrich is a dangerous, self-interested idiot, in my opinion. 
• I taught my primary class alone last week and it was really rough.  I was completely out of material with 25 minutes of class left.  Yikes. 
  
• This week I taught the 5 year olds again and it went much better.  We talked about families which was way more interesting for the boys. 
• Used my early out day last week to go to Crossfit with Ken. 
  
• Heard about mom & dad's upcoming adventure to Morocco! 
• Ken is itching to take a big trip as a graduation/post-bar celebration so we're brainstorming.  It would be so amazing to "pick up" mom and dad from their mission in Morocco if the dates line up.  Fingers crossed, that's probably our first choice.  Otherwise, should we take a Baltic Cruise?  Or go somewhere else?  We really need something to look forward to. 
  
• Tuesday night we went to see Iron Lady with my friend Kirstin.  What a fascinating story. 
• Wednesday we considered buying $155 round trip tickets out west during July like Annee did.  We didn't pull the trigger but made some good plans overall for our time in CA and UT this June & July. 
  
• We attended crossfit several times this week.  Soooo sore. 
• Friday I brought snacks to my work Superbowl Party.  Those parties are always so awkward and dumb.  I forgot to tell Steve to come down and get some snacks!! 
  
• CZ has been out of the office forever and it's boring.
• Saturday I slept in super late, cleaned the apartment, worked from home and ran errands with Ken.  
• Sunday morning we found a live raccoon stuck in the bottom of the outdoor trash can.  EWW.
  
• Sunday after church I made a homemade lasagna because CZ was making one for her friends so I thought it'd be fun to be doing the same thing even though we weren't together.  I joined my office pool for the superbowl so it was really fun to watch and see if we won.  We didn't, but maybe next year. 
  
• Tried to do some life re-planning with Ken.  Should he go back for a masters in Real Estate?  If he did an LLM, would accounting firms still be hiring when he's done?  He knows that his dream company/job is JLL.  Just needs to find the best way to get in.  This is not fun and I feel like God has completely abandoned us.  So that's good. 
  

This Week

• Tomorrow on my early out day we will go to Crossfit again before Ken goes to work.  I'm aiming to go 4 times this week.
• Thursday there's a fun Enrichment meeting about flower arranging and making cake balls. 
  
• Finish listening to Little Women.  Why won't Joe love Laurie?? 
• We're supposed to lead the discussion in the Marriage Sunday school class this week.  Better read the lesson. 
• Apply to more jobs.
• We have a companion pass that will expire at the end of March.  I'd love to find a way to use it.  
• Keep dreaming about a vacation in the spring. 
• Eyebrow wax.
• I'm putting eye doctor on here again even though I'm not sure it'll happen. 
  
• Begin to file our 2011 taxes.  Want to get this done ASAP. 
• Come up with something nice to do on Valentine's Day.

Christine:

Past Couple Weeks:

• I've been working a lot.  I guess I'm officially learning for myself now what busy season is all about.  Since the middle of January I've been working late nights everyday and have work to do most weekends, whether at home or at the client site.  It's pretty exhausting and it's hard to figure out how to fit in anything else.  For some strange reason I've found myself totally starving all day whenever I'm at a client (which I am always at now, I kind of miss the office).  I've been talking a lot to Rachel about how to handle this strange situation.  I try to bring good snacks with me everyday and only allow my self to eat what I bring.  Working with the audit teams (oh yeah, I'm doing audits right now, not so awesome, but getting better), they always have tons of candy and snacks to share, so if I didn't limit myself to only what I bring then I would literally be eating all day.  It really is a strange thing for me, I used to feel like I was never hungry and didn't need that much. 
  
• I've been to the gym three times in the past two weeks.  Doesn't feel like a lot at all, but I'm glad I've been able to squeeze even that much in.  I've started packing my gym clothes and keeping them in the car so that I can go straight from work, and that helps a lot.  If I leave work by 9/9:30 then I feel like I can make it.  That doesn't always happen.
• Last weekend I luckily didn't have to work other than a few small things I could do at home and Jon came to visit.  Saturday I had an extremely productive day finally picking up my dry cleaning (when you don't get any dry cleaning done for almost a year the bill can get pretty high), finally getting a new drivers license (although I recently got a letter in the mail informing me I still have some loose ends to handle, I can't believe this has been such a long process), and doing a little shopping for some suits (my current client requires that we wear business professional).  We ended the day with a date to Cheesecake Factory and seeing Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close which I LOVED and definitely cried a little in (Jon may have fallen asleep).
• This most recent weekend I went to dinner Saturday night with some friends after getting my eyebrows waxed, which was so very much needed.  Sunday I was planning on making dinner for friends and had decided to make lasagna.  Rachel sent me a good recipe but told me I needed to do a test run before the real thing.  So Saturday after dinner I went to the grocery store to get all my supplies and then cooked until about 3am, making my practice lasagna while also getting everything ready for the real one so that Sunday would require little prep.  Luckily both turned out delicious.  I also wanted to make some treats for the Super Bowl Sunday night, so I ended up feeling like I was cooking all day on Sunday.  I made S'more Tarts and Reese's Surprise cookies, both of which I found on Pinterest.  The S'more Tarts ended up soooo delicious and were super easy, I would highly recommend them.  The cookies were of course good as well, can't really go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie with a reese's in the middle.
• I was planning to watch the game at Josh, Ben, and Ryan's house, but with all my treat making I was a little late getting over there.  Around 7 (the game started at 630), I started getting a lot of texts from them asking if I was coming and telling me to hurry over.  I was a little confused why they all cared so much, especially since they know by now that I'm late anytime I hang out with them.  When I finally walked into their house at 730 I was totally surprised and a little confused to see Jon sitting there amongst a bunch of people.  He had been home for the weekend and decided to take a (LONG) detour through DC on his way back to Morgantown to surprise me.  He knew I was watching the game there so just went straight there, and ended up waiting almost two hours for me to show up!  It was a great surprise and fun to get to spend even just a few hours with him.  

This Week:

• Work.  It's hard to plan many other things when I'm not sure how much time I'll really have away from work.
• Read with Flor Monday at lunch.  I feel like it's been forever since I've been there.
  
• Clean my room.  It's a total disaster right now.  I'm sure that's not too surprising.
• Visiting teaching.  My companion is leaving on the 14th to go get married in Utah (I'm pretty sure she got engaged a month ago and started dating the guy maybe a couple months before that), so she wants to get it in before she leaves. 
  
• I'm currently scheduled to go riding Saturday morning.  I've finally started looking into some possible barns to ride at and there's one in Alexandria I want to check out.