Not so Newlywed

Last night we invited the Dahl's and Bradshaw's over for date night. We ate dinner and then played The Not so Newlywed Game. It was a really fun night. These wonderful friends have been such a blessing to us. I don't know how we would have survived last year without them!

Emma has been in her big girl bed for a few weeks. We tried this months ago but she kept getting out of bed so we put the crib rail back on. She was getting too big to lift so I decided to try again. She's been much better this time although there have been a few times she climbs in my bed at 4:00am.

Kaylee turned in her science fair board this last week. She typed everything herself and we worked together to glue it on the board. 

Kaylee has been learning about Rube Goldberg at school. Rube made machines that did simple tasks through complicated chain reactions. Kaylee made her own chain reaction and sold tickets for the show. The tickets were only 1 cent! 

Kaylee and Brooke went to a birthday party at a trampoline park yesterday. They had so much fun! 

Update

It's been awhile since I updated. We've been busy with house projects, but here is a little recap of the last few weeks.  

I really love the winters in Texas! I'm really going to miss them when we move. We get cold weather for a day or two and then it's warm again.

Emma slept in her princess tent several nights in a row. She took herself to bed and it was fabulous! Usually she fights bedtime.

I went to Austin's school for block fest. We had a good time building together. I wish I had space in my house for some of these fun blocks.

Emma drew this picture of our family.

Since Emma had been sleeping in the tiny tent we had I thought she would love a bigger play tent. I bought this house and the kids absolutely loved it... for a couple of days. Austin and Emma both wanted to sleep in it the first night but since then they aren't as interested... should have just got a big box. 

These past few weeks we have been working on house projects. We got our carpet stretched- there were bubbles in our carpet in every room. I cleaned out a lot of toys, books, etc. since I knew our furniture would need to be moved. I used it as an opportunity to purge and declutter.

We also updated our countertops in the bathrooms. I was worried about this project but it was actually easier than I anticipated.

We lived with pink countertops for 3 1/2 years. We should have done this so much sooner.

We painted and then spread chips and then it dried for 12 hours.

After sanding down again we applied the final top coat and it looks all new!

I also fixed the gallery wall. I  covered up all the family pictures with scrapbook paper and I actually like it this way too.

Next project will be our kitchen countertops and then cleaning and baseboard touch up. After that we'll put our house on the market. I hope it sells fast, I don't want to have to keep my house show worthy long!

Long Week

Monday was our last day of Christmas break. We took down all our Christmas decorations and cleaned up most of our things from our trip. The kids begged to go see Moana so we invited some friends and went. It was a really cute movie (although I missed some because I had to take kids to the bathroom twice during the movie.) We've been listening to the music ever since. It's been stuck in our heads and the kids ask for it to dance to over and over.

Wednesday night the girls had activity days and there was mutual that night. We decided to make all those people guinea pigs for Kaylee's science fair project- "Does Color affect taste?" We made 5 pans of jello in different colors and had the kids try all five flavors and guess what flavor they were. 

The trick was they were all the same flavor... lemon but nobody could tell because they were different colors! I even knew they were all the same and yet they still tasted a little different to me. Amazing the difference color makes!

Wednesday Emma was sick. She woke up crying at 4:00 and I went to see her. She told me she wanted a bowl to throw up in so I got one and sure enough a few minutes later she threw up in it. She threw up all morning but seemed better by the afternoon. She was good until Thursday night when she threw up in her bed again! Friday she was fine but I was sick! Nauseous all day, achy and throwing up a few times. It was not fun. Emma was good until Saturday night when she threw up again in her bed.... It's been a lot of laundry. I'm not really sure why she keeps throwing up.

Austin has a cough that has been keeping him and us awake at night. All the kids have had a hard time waking up for school this week. It's been a long week.

Friday a cold front came through and it got cold - high of 15 degrees and we got an inch or two of snow.

The kids wanted to go out and play but I was sick and wouldn't have wanted to go out in the cold anyway. Luckily dad was nice enough to go out too.

They didn't last long.

This week we've been doing some home improvements to get our house ready to sell. Jake put a new floor in the bathroom and it looks so much better. This next week we have someone coming to stretch our bubbled carpet and someone to come look at redoing our counter tops. I wish we would have done some of this stuff sooner so we could enjoy it longer. Jake wasn't motivated or had enough time until now.

New Year

We made it home on New Year's Eve. This is the part I hate about traveling- the mess when we get home. The house is still a disaster. It takes a few days to recover. 

To celebrate the new year  we did a couple fireworks (left over from 4th of July) and caught the grass on fire in the backyard. I quickly put it out with a bucket of water. The kids also did sparklers and didn't catch anything on fire. :)  They were all in bed by 8:00 and Jake and I called it a night at 10:00.

Today we went to church. 9:00 church is fabulous and so are Texas winters! 65 degrees today! Austin and Brooke are showing the burnt grass.

2017 will bring lots of changes for us. Jake will graduate in May and we will be moving to Boise, Idaho! Jake accepted the job from the Helmstar Group and we will move in June. We are excited and a little nervous to move. We love Lubbock and the friends we have here. 

Travel Home

Friday we left to go back to Texas. Austin threw up in the morning before we left so I was worried but we brought a bucket with us and he only had to use it once and then was eating normal again. We drove the 8 hours to the same hotel in Farmington, New Mexico. We had to be creative to make enough beds.

Pizza for dinner while watching Harry Potter after a long day of travel.

All the kids in their beds...

The car was packed to the brim on the way home. 

Emma and Austin were really good travelers. I think Emma only cried for a few minutes.

Kaylee and Brooke were not as good. They were teasing each other and fighting in the back seat. It was to be expected after 2 weeks of not enough sleep and 16 hours sitting next to each other in the car.

We know we are close to home when we see the empty cotton fields.

It was a great trip. Every year I think it would be so much easier just to stay home, and it would, but it's always great to see family. If we could just keep the kids from getting sick (they all got colds and Austin and Emma coughed ALL NIGHT) and have the kids get enough sleep (Kaylee woke up early every morning) the trip would be perfect. Emma wouldn't fall alseep unless I was by her and anytime she woke up at night I had to lay by her until she went back to sleep. We are happy to be home to our owns beds.

Hanni cousins

Thursday we went back to Clearfield. Kevin and Jack came up to visit us. Brian, Carrie and their girls came for dinner. We enjoyed time together. This is all the Hanni cousins including baby Aidia via skype.

More cousins

Wednesday the Oto cousins came to Logan for the day on their way to St. George. The kids were thrilled to see each other and spent hours playing out in the snow and then hours playing inside.

Making snow cones.

Jake, April, Matt and I went snow shoeing. I'd never been before. It was so much work. I enjoyed it but at the same time it was so hard. I wasn't sure I was happy I went or not. It was beautiful but I was so tired and my hip joints really hurt lifting the big snow shoes up hill. We went at a quick pace. With the Williams there is no leisurely strolls. 

When we got back it was time for the Otos to leave. We got one cousin picture. Emma wasn't very happy about it.

Sledding and Friends

Tuesday Jake and I took the kids and cousin Peter sledding while some of the other adults went snow shoeing.

The kids could't get enough. They could have stayed for hours. Emma wasn't a big fan of  sledding. She only went down a couple of times when forced.

Emma and I spent most of our time wondering around in the snow and playing on the playground. It was so cold! I think it was only 17 degrees while we were there. It sure is pretty though!

Jake and I went to visit Christine. She was one of my best friends growing up. We've been friends since we were babies!