For 2023

I've started compiling a list for me in the year 2023--the year Claire turns 13.  Last week I took a group of teenagers to a dance.  And don't worry, I used all of my most humiliating dance moves to taunt those that didn't want to dance.  After sufficient harm had been done (and the majority of them had accepted the challenge to dance with one person whose first or last name started with a J or an R.) I found a quiet place to do some work that I had been putting off.

Going to the dance was fun and horrifying all at the same time.  It also served as a reminder as to just how moody and difficult teenagers could be.  Wowsers.    So that very day I started compiling a list of things to love about my kids because starting in 2023 things are probably going to be a little moody around here and right now things are sometimes hard but mostly hilarous. Here's a little snippit of the list I've collected about Claire.

*{Yelling from the Bathroom after a huge fart} "Did you guys hear that?!?  That was loud.

* {Sitting down next to some teenage boys who were watching basketball on TV} "My dad loves this show!"

* Her current favorite figure of speech is "Sound like a plan?"  She'll propose some kind of action like "Let's go to the library this afternoon.  Sound like a plan?"

* {At a pretend picnic on the living room floor} "I packed these necklaces just in case there's an emergency and we need to be fancy."

We do a lot of Fancy around here.
Noah's fancy is wearing Claire's pink sneakers from last summer

Organizing

The kids toys have slowly been encroaching over the whole house for the last few months. It's one of the tricky parts about living in a smaller apartment (I have to say smaller because my NY and San Diego friends would say our apartment is big while anyone who lives anywhere else in the US would laugh); we don't have a space specifically set aside for kid toys except for their bedroom.  And they share a bedroom so there isn't a ton of space in there.

Luckily at church on Sunday someone walked up to me and asked me if I needed a toy organizer.

I did.

So yesterday the kids and I organized toys  We took toys from all over the house and found space for them in their room.  We thought about categories and sorting and I threw away nearly a million small, cheap plastic toys (like the kind that come in gift bags) while they weren't looking.

This is the result.

You're probably thinking, "so let us look at your new living room now that it's cleared of all of the kid stuff"

And.  Bam.

Like I said, they still have a small room which they share.  For honesty sake I should probably mention that there is a toy kitchen against the wall that you can't see and this is what is happening behind the couch.  It might be a long long time before this family can actually get rid of toys in the living room.

And this is what happened when their dad got home.  Kid Sushi.

January

So I don't think we left the house all week.  Maybe we went to Costco once to get milk.  And, to our credit we did host preschool at our house so we had friends over twice.

This is pretty much the ways things look around here.  Nothing says a long January week like no pants, workbooks and wearing your swim suit around the house.

Other than that the only thing on my mind is bagels.  I live in New York and, as Mindy Kaling points out in her book, living in New York and making your own bagels is a little presumptuous.  Hasn't stopped me from trying (let's face it I've been called way worse than presumptuous).  I still haven't found the right recipe but I'm getting closer.

This is for All the White Girls

Last night I had one of the most awesome/awkward racial moments of my life. I went out with the ladies (if you are a mom and you haven't been out dancing in a while Do It. It's good for the marriage and good for the soul).  We opted to try out an unknown club in White Plains.  We were a little surprised when we got to the club because we were the only white girls there.  The DJ was playing a really eclectic mix which was lots of disco, lots of Latin dance tunes and lots of songs that I didn't know.  There wasn't too much dancing.  The music wasn't quite what we were expecting so we were planning on leaving as soon as the girls finished their drinks when a small miracle happened--Bon Jovi, Livin' on a Prayer.  Quick as a flash the only 5 white girls were up on their feet singing at the top of their lungs.  People were staring and a couple of girls were whispering behind their hands but the DJ knew he had a good thing going.  He stopped the music at the chorus so you could hear us singing and he just kept playing songs that he knew the 5 moms in their 30s and 40s would like--Journey, Nirvana, Cindi Lauper and Madonna.  The magic was that people caught the fire and after a song or two everyone was dancing--even the ladies who were staring and whispering.  And as he rounded out the set with Born in the USA I looked around and was more than a little embarrassed at our stereo typical whiteness but still so pleased that even at 34 I have friends who know every word to embarrassing songs and sing them at the top of their lungs.

A Picture Recap

We had an awesome holiday season.

And here is a totally random sampling of photos.

Some of our favorite friends were in NY on the 23rd and we all went to the Natural History Museum.  Piper was wonderful--it was like having an awesome babysitter come to play.

Temple Square

Using the air popcorn popper without it's top on New Year's Eve

Making a tremor at the Utah Museum of Natural History

This is basically what mornings looked like at my parent's house: Chips, pajamas and Netflix

Claire saw a candy card on Pinterest while we were looking for gift ideas for dad and she knew right away it was wanted to get her dad

Isn't my sister lovely?

My mom planned a flannel board story for Christmas Eve.  It went pretty much exactly like I thought it would.  Two girls fighting over the angel and Noah stealing all the other characters.

Since then we've been staying busy.

A new member of the Duck Dynasty?

Luckily we discovered these (which are a game-changer)

and we are streaming the Soundtrack to Frozen almost constantly (because, let's face it--it's awesome) so the frozen temperatures haven't been too bad.