January

January was a bit of a blur. There was cousin fun, back to school and regular routines, and a new calling at church. I got called to be the Young Women President, after having been serving as the first counselor since last May. It was a bit overwhelming, and trying to sort through my new responsibilities and preparing for New Beginnings kind of took up a good bit of my time. Our house wasn't the cleanest, but it survived. And thanks to Fry's Clicklist grocery pick up my kids had food to eat, since I didn't actually have to make time to go grocery shopping, just to put together an order online and go pick it up after dropping Ryan off at preschool. We survived the month and things are feeling a bit calmer now.
Here are a few pictures of the kids' shenanigans while I was busy doing who knows what:

 Kind of creepy and funny...

 We did make it to the library once and Annie checked out a kid's cookbook and came home so excited to cook from it. She made dinner that night of a delicious apple curry and was really excited to use their suggestion of putting rice in a cookie cutter to make it more fun.

 For a fun family outing one Saturday we headed to Eegees for fries and Eegees drinks. Who doesn't love Eegees?

Another Saturday Rachel and I went to the stake Activity Days activity. It was really cool, all about family history. The girls chose what to pack on a handcart, made their own corn husk doll, and made a mini rag rug about the size of a coaster.

 Annie is all about "Mommy-Daughter time." I guess she is the stereotypical middle child begging for more attention. Every day. Repeatedly. And while we're playing a game "just me and you" she is planning the next thing we can do "just me and you." No matter how much one-on-one time we have, she just can't get enough. But we keep trying.

 Playing Kerplunk in a fort, just me and her, was pretty fun. Until she heard Dad turn on Penguins of Madagascar to keep Ryan and Megan from wandering in and interrupting our one-on-one time. Then she was done. Nothing is better than one-on-one time. Except staring mindlessly at a screen. ;)

Some of my Mia Maids:

  We went on a shopping adventure to a thrift store and talked about what colors look good on each of them and how to find quality stuff at the thrift store and what is and is not worth buying there, then they were set loose to find an outfit that would look good on their partner. Most succeeded. :)

The theme for New Beginnings was ASK: Acquire Spiritual Knowledge. I made these blocks for some of the decorations.

 Jacob hasn't had to travel for work in about 5 years. We knew this year he'd have to start traveling a bit more. Coincidentally he got to travel the week we had New Beginnings scheduled. In fact, we moved New Beginnings to a new date and the next day he came home and said he'd be out of town that week. How convenient. Luckily my parents are saints and took the kids for the whole day and evening so I could go set up, and run last minute errands I hadn't gotten to, and be gone late into the evening all without worrying about the kids. The night turned out great.

I came home and breathed a big sigh of relief and realized that I had 2 days with hardly anything on the schedule, which was much needed after the craziness of the first half of the week.