January

January found us and then sped on by

We un-Christmas-ed our house

On the same day we did this a winter storm came

It was a Saturday and we ended up losing power for 4 hours.  We ate dinner in the dark/dusk and played some board games by candle light.  We were happy when the power came back on

We enjoyed the winter weather - but school ended up canceled for the whole week

The snow was pretty icy but the kids still had fun sledding

Grant said he even took a few "naps" in the snow at the sledding hill - we did see him from the house laying in the snow for a while.  Here he is "napping" in the yard.  He reminds me of Randy from A Christmas Story who can't get up off the ground in his puffy winter snowsuit - "I can't get up!"

Several days our back gate iced shut - so getting to the sledding hill involved some work.  I had to hack the ice away with a shovel one morning.

Matthew made some nice loaves of multigrain bread for a friend's birthday because we couldn't get out to the store in time with all the ice to get a proper gift.  The birthday party still happened and the friend loved the homemade bread.  This is the recipe Matthew made - Multigrain Bread. And here is a new basic white bread recipe I've been loving lately.

I scheduled a final for the week of the snow and ice thinking my kids would be in school that day - but they were not.  The final was take home, so not proctored, and I had 24 hours to complete it - it took me 10 hours!!! So it was a rough day for me, mentally, emotionally, visually (my eyes!!!) and a rough day for Scott trying to work and keep everyone else quiet while we were stuck in the house.  I got 100% on the final - it was a programming final so if you get the code to run and it runs in a short enough time you get full credit.  But the whole thing was very traumatic.  This latest class I finished was on searching and sorting algorithms - a computer science class for my data science program.  I feel like I'm quick on the uptake of the theory and math of my classes but slower than average at the coding - since I have less experience with that, although I'm getting faster.  I do feel like I am picking up a little momentum with my classes so I hope it lasts.  After that final, I still have a 4.0 so trying not to be too hard on myself.  Here's me reviewing some notes.

I've started taking most of my school notes on my computer. rather than on paper.  It's great but getting math equations typed in correctly is painful sometimes on my word processing app.  Subscripts, superscripts, Greek letters!!  But I still like doing it this way for now.

Grant made some cool things while we were stuck in the house - this is a tiny arcade game.  He even made a little cord and plug coming out of the back of the machine.

His Lego gameboy creation

These were his own designs

We measured all the kids - Matthew is 6'1" ...and Anna is mad she is not 6'1"

Earlier in the month we got to hang out with my brother-in-law's family.  They are really fun and always so nice to us.  And great food!!  And fun cousin times.  They have what they call "cracker feast" (or was it cracker fest?) as a New Year's Eve thing and I love the name and the concept and all of it.  Glad we got to get together.

And John was ordained a deacon - both sets of grandparents were able to be there.

We have 4 kids in the YM/YW program now

Scott and I went on a quick trip to San Jose - he had a work party and I got to be his plus one.  I always feel really anxious and guilty leaving the kids so that's hard but thanks Ma2 and Pa2 for watching our gang while we were gone.  The party was nice - held at a fancy country club in Palo Alto - much fancier place than I normally visit.  And I got to meet lots of Scott's co-workers so that was cool.  Social skills are not my forte - so I usually just struggle/suffer through all social events but somehow we survived it.  While in CA we also got to have In&Out Burger and Dish Dash - a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurant in San Jose that Scott and I like.  And I had a quiet day alone to work on class work and read Lord of the Rings.  Here we are on the flight there.

And Emma greeted us at the airport on the way back.  She saved up all the things she wanted to say to us over the two days and told them to us (firehose style) on the 30 minute ride home.

We also got to go to a comedy show.  Scott and I saw Nate Bargatze (a comedian) in Portland.  It was great!  And after the Blazer game last month we now have a better handle on parking at the Moda Center. 

John has been doing a lot of swimming - he's trying to pass off the level he's in so he can (maybe) do swim team.  He has to get butterfly down and we're not quite there yet, but he's doing great!

Waterslide day at swimming

Anna working on a craft creation

Emma started piano lessons - the 3 younger kids all do music lessons right now.  Not sure if we can afford to continue with that but they are all doing great right now!

John made a pamphlet for school on the tundra biome

Grant making some kind of contraption from his bed to the door

Matthew dressed up as a nerd for a school spirit day - it was jocks vs. nerds and most people dressed up as jocks - Matthew was representing for nerds!!