5 Things

1. Winter is here! It got pretty darn cold this week. We had a really good snow last Sunday and Monday was the perfect snow day. I took the kids sledding, and we came home and had hot chocolate. Then it just dropped into the single digits and negative temps and it's been too cold to be out for long. There's ice along the insides of our windows when we lift the blinds up, and the back sliding door is always frozen shut and only Kenny and I can open it now. I have realized something though...I rarely check my weather app anymore. When we first moved here (okay probably the first two years at least) I was always checking the weather. It was some weird thing where I had to know exactly how many degrees it was and what the forecast was, when the sun would rise and set, etc. The temperature and amount of sun outside was a big deal, and has been a huge adjustment for me. But I was happy to realize this week that it's pretty rare I even look at it anymore. If someone mentions we're about to get a lot of snow, I might look it up. But the good news is I'm not so obsessed anymore. Life goes on regardless of the temperature or sunshine, and I'm a really slow learner but I'm getting it. 

 2. This weekend we decided to tackle the game room closet! We got rid of two garbage sacks worth of toys and such and nothing feels better than a newly-organized closet! :) This one gets way out of control, super fast. Here's what we do with toys now: they ALL stay locked up in the closet! Otherwise, I simply cannot keep up with all the clutter underfoot. So if they kids want to play with something, I unlock it and we get it out. Some people simplify by getting rid of all of their toys. But here's the thing, we live in Alaska, and we homeschool, so we are home a lot with "indoor play" weather. So I do need and want them to have a variety of fun things to keep them occupied. I just don't want them to have full access to everything we own at all hours of the day. So this solution has worked quite well. It keep the house manageable. There's still clothes and books and a million papers to clean up every day, so we just don't have to add "toys" to the list. (We got very blessed with 4 bedrooms, each with their own walk-in closet. This is the 4th room that has a couch and the TV in it, and is left open for playing. All the toys stay in the closet.)

3. Briggs is 15 months old as of Thursday! If you'd like to know my favorite thing to do 3 times a day, it's cleaning him up after meals....
NOT.
He's a pretty standard 15 month old--extremely independent and wants to do everything himself even if he can't. He tries to climb everything and gets hurt all the time and makes huge messes wherever he goes and gets into everything and clings to my legs and has started throwing tantrums and melts my heart with his cuteness and love. He willingly puts his hand in when we do our family cheer each night and tries to be a part of everything. He insists on climbing up on the folding chairs to color at the homeschool desk just like his sisters, and often folds himself up in them. He raises his hands up high and shouts "yay" in lieu of "Amen" at the end of every prayer. He plays with the dog and it's pretty hilarious to watch the two of them go back and forth. Briggs throws a ball, Cato runs to get it, then Briggs goes after him to get the ball back by scaring the dog away. Repeat.
On Friday he was walking around with a metal spoon and tripped and fell, jabbing the spoon in his mouth, between his teeth and upper lip. I didn't see it happen, so I didn't know where he had hurt himself at first. I ran around the corner when I heard him fall, and there was just so much blood coming out of his mouth and he wouldn't let me get a good look anyway. I was so terrified I couldn't tell how bad it was or where it was coming from. Kenny was at the store with the other kids so it was just me freaking out alone. Thankfully it wasn't terribly serious. He had a fat lip for a couple days though. He and Kelsey also have been sick and throwing up/diarrhea this weekend. Super fun. I swear. We went like years without anyone throwing up ever. This winter all of the sudden, it's been so bad and I don't even know why. I will definitely be picking up some probiotics tomorrow and pumping them all full!

4. I took Ty, Bryn, and Madi to see the local high school play, Bye Bye Birdie. It was a really cute performance, and fun to take the kids. They kept asking if it was "real" or not. We didn't know beforehand, but there were 4 young men from our ward who were involved with it (either playing music or acting) so it was fun to see their families there too.

5. On Friday I drove into Anchorage and went to the temple and Costco, and hurried home. That night was our ward Fall Festival. They had a fun cake competition where all the dads and their sons baked and decorated cakes, and those were also the desserts for the night. There were a lot of fun cakes displayed! Kenny and Ty didn't do a whole lot of decorating, but they made a butter cake with a layer of brownies in between. It looked cool once you cut into it, and tasted good too. Unfortunately, they didn't win any awards which made Ty kind of disappointed, but it was still a fun night.