Flake Fun

 

This is a blueberry pie that the twins made. 

These were Scott's boots when he was a baby. James wore them twice and now they are in the basement for historical preservation! 

Happy New Year

Well, the holidays are over and a new year has arrived.  I am looking forward to 2022 and hope that it will be better than 2021 with lots of visits to Utah.  

We spent a nice Christmas in Snowflake. Scott's siblings came on Friday and left on Saturday afternoon.  It was good to visit and catch up.  The kids made  gingerbread houses and a candy bar train with Grandma Flake which they enjoyed.  

We did some sparklers and a couple of fireworks on Friday night and went to bed early.  I heard fireworks going off until about midnight and then it was finally quiet.

Nilsson News

 The word around here is COLD!  We are having a crazy cold spell that is giving us wind chills that are -20!  It's looking like it will warm up again in the next day or two and we'll be happy to be in the 20's again.  We have also had a ton of snow.  Usually we will get a snow storm one day and then it's done but this storm lasted for three days straight.  Shovel, take a break.  Shovel, take a break.  Shovel, shovel, shovel!  Garrett has thankfully been able to get our tractor started to keep the barnyard scraped.  Addy and Emerson have helped to keep the driveway scraped and it has been quite the family effort.  Once the snow stopped snowing, the wind picked up and created some pretty massive drifts.  It's always exciting here in Idaho!

Christmas was lovely.  We spent Christmas Eve eve, at the Hart's.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner of pitas and citrus salad.  Not quite a passover dinner but a close attempt.  We played games and watched a reenactment of the nativity complete with the a stuffed Olaf as the baby Jesus.  I guess in a household of all boys, baby dolls are rather scarce!  Christmas was enjoyed at home and we tried to make it last as long as possible.  Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to another great year!

Manning Mahem

 Well, life is just going by way too fast! The new word at our house is Supercalifra.......you know the rest. Chet sings it all day long! We listen to it all day long! And some like it more than others.

Christmas was a great time! We had Grandpa and Grandma come two days before and have a passover dinner with us which was so fun. They stayed the night at a hotel and we went swimming there the next day. We had a Christmas Eve dinner at Nick's parent's house and played there. Christmas was relaxed and lovely. The kids had a blast. We have had snow this year which is rare and we have taken full advantage of it. The kids have been sledding several times and that has been a highlight. 

The boys are all growing in so many ways! Wesley is reading very well and has a fantastic memory. He remembers everything! Chet has been learning his letters and sounds and writing his name. Gus has two teeth through and two more coming. He has tried his hand at eating and he absolutely loves it! It is so fun to see his enthusiasm for everything and food has just been a happy thing for him! He is so close to crawling which is crazy and I'm not ready for that! Nick has a new office and classroom which he is happy about and trying to get that organized before school starts on Wednesday.

We now have 9:00 church which is lovely. Chet is in primary now and he is totally comfortable and taking command of it. He answered every question and volunteered for everything! So did Wesley now that I think about it! So cute. Hope you are enjoying a new year and all your resolutions!

Nilsson News

 It's amazing how the time flies and Addy finally pointed out that we hadn't posted on this blog since the beginning of November.  I guess we get so caught up in the daily routine it doesn't feel like there is much we can write about.  We had a wonderful time with all of you at the gathering.  There was great food, visiting, playing, and family history fun.  We've since been involved in the holiday doings.  We aren't quite as ambitious as many of you and we don't make Christmas bread but we had a Saturday afternoon where we dipped pretzels like crazy and decorated them.  Millie and Henry went a little crazy with the sprinkles!

We missed going hunting for a tree up in the hills but the kids decided it just wouldn't be the same unless there was snow so we went to the small town hardware store and picked one out there.  Garrett has been adjusting to his new calling as the Elder's Quorum president.  The "old men" just aren't as exciting as the young men.

Addy had her clogging recital and did a fantastic job.  They didn't have an official recital last year due to Covid so it was fun to be there again.  We were grateful that the Harts joined us and cheered Addy on.  Earlier in the week, we enjoyed a geography and Shakespeare day with the Harts.  The kids are starting to memorize the countries of Europe so we celebrated by enjoying some delicious, authentic, Belgian waffles.  Then each of the kids presented a Shakespeare quote.  It was great!

We've been working on finishing Eliza and Millie's bedroom downstairs.  It's the last unfinished space in the house so we are excited to get it done.  Yesterday, we got the closet built and started dry walling the ceiling which is always a tricky task.  I started taping and mudding and it's nice to see things taking shape.  We are hoping we can have it mostly done so the kids can have their Christmas Eve sleepover in there.

That is the report as of late.  Nothing super exciting but sometimes we like it that way!

Flake Fun

 The past month has been fairly decent.

As all of you know, James is now walking and I am having a hard time keeping up with him.  He and Rand like to play together sometimes and I have to remind both of them to be soft and gentle; Rand because he likes to wrestle and rough house and James because he has quite a grip and can really do damage when he latches on to a body part (usually the face). 

I was asked to substitute piano today in primary. It went well until about 15 minutes into singing time when I heard Robin wailing from nursery.  I waited but they didn't bring her so I motioned to Dona and she went, picked her up and brought her to me. So, nursery is still not going well, to say the least. 

We had the ward Christmas party breakfast as well as the Bailey family Christmas party yesterday so I am pretty beat but here are some pictures since a picture is worth a thousand words. 

There is a reason that these plants are struggling but he loves sitting among the pots and digging. 

Doing the dishes is fun to do...

"I'm making Daddy some zucchini"

He spent most of our tree decorating dancing to Christmas music

Flake Fun

 The last several weeks have been doozies to be honest.  We did enjoy a visit to Smithfield and seeing some of you wonderful people! The kids particularly enjoyed Grandpa's swing!  

As soon as we got home the kids came down with a stomach bug which was quite the adventure. I went 5 days before having a vomit free day. (I am sure that some of you are thinking "5 days is nothing!" but it was exhausting).  

All 3 kids are teething which comes with hair trigger emotions but we are getting through it.

Robin has been struggling with aggression and wild emotions and the last several days have put together a very sad and heartbreaking puzzle for me. Last Sunday was our week to teach Sunday School. I have had conversations with the nursery teachers about not letting the kids cry for more than a few minutes before they bring them to us.  I thought perhaps that it would be easier for Scott to take the twins to nursery and I would take James straight to class. Scott came in after a few minutes and said that Robin was pretty sad. I reassured myself that the leaders would bring her if she was sad for more than a few minutes. To make a long story short, there were 2 substitute teachers in nursery, one that Robin is afraid of, and that substitute had walked the halls with her for the duration of nursery. Needless to say, she went to Relief Society with me today and it could be 2022 before she will go back of her own choice. 

We went to the Mesa temple open house on Friday and it was a good experience.  The kids really loved the reflection pool on the grounds.  

Well, I'm heading for bed. See you all next week!!!

I knew that they were not feeling well when they climbed on the couch and zonked for 90 minutes less then 2 hours after they woke up.

Carving pumpkins with Daddy 

Victory! A successful table climb

Nilsson News

 I can't stop laughing at Lauren's post!  I love the simplicity of her schedule and maybe I should implement it at our house.  I think all my kids would be on board for the 30 minute run around, jumping, punching part.  Little kids are so entertaining!

The latest happenings around here were Addy, Emerson, and Garrett's trip to Oregon.  They flew up there and met up with Garrett's parents.  It rained every single day but they were able to enjoy plenty of museums, aquariums, and when the clouds let up, walks along the coast.  They learned a lot about Lewis and Clark at the National Park there and were able to visit the Columbia River and see the salmon in migration.  They were also able to attend the Portland temple to do baptisms and that was a highlight.  I challenged the kids to try some fish since they were at the coast and it tastes good there.  Emerson was not super keen on the idea but did try some really good fish and chips and reported that they tasted like chicken nuggets.  That's not exactly what I had in mind but it is a small step forward.  Other than Emerson, they each had a day of not feeling great with fever, chills and aches.  They didn't know it at the time, but it was Covid.

The little kids and myself, stayed behind and tried to entertain ourselves.  We ended up going down to Mom's while Jenn and her kiddos were there and that was so much fun.  I had a small cough and debated whether I should go, but after weighing all the symptoms, decided it was safe.  We visited with Emma and Cam and briefly saw Lauren and her boys.  After returning home, and a couple of days later, I lost my smell.  Mom's crazy immune booster goop was our smell test with all it's apple cider vinegar, garlic, horseradish, oregano and who knows what all, and I couldn't smell a titch.  I went to get a test and it came back positive.  I felt fine other than my tiny cough and no smell!  Garrett and the others came home that night and the next day, Addy reported she couldn't smell nor could Garrett or Eliza.  They all took the goop smell test.  Garrett called his parents and they tested positive for Covid as well.  So quarantine, here we come!  I don't know which is worse, to be cooped up for several days feeling totally fine or at least make it feel productive by feeling horrible?  We missed out on the trick or treat festivities which was a big disappointment for the kids but luckily they had been able to attend a Halloween party earlier in the week.

We survived and are in the clear zone now.  We can't figure out how Emerson escaped without any symptoms whatsoever.  Maybe it's his steady diet of hamburgers from his trip and one serving of very healthy fish.  We are hoping this keeps everyone healthy and good for the Thanksgiving holiday and gathering!  Can't wait!

A bat, cowboy, and ghost, oh my!