Week 39

 This week was much better, for which we are all grateful. Monday we got the wall fixed (although for more money that we were hoping but whatever, it is fixed!) and I did laundry and cleaned and taught some piano lessons. Tuesday was more school, piano lessons and grocery pick up and cleaning. The girls had dance and I practiced the pinao a lot for when I play in church next week.

Wednesday I did body pump, dishes, ironing, and of course kept an eye on the clock to make sure everyone got on their school meetings on time, which is no small feat. That night Josh and Lily had a fun Christmas decoration scavenger hunt in our neighborhood with the youth that I thought sounded fun. Thursday I taught a bunch of piano lessons all afternoon and I've got my virtual recital Monday night so hopefully that goes well. Hopefully a few of my students practice this weekend too. The kids all did pretty well in school this week and we are so excited to just have one more week before Christmas break! Brandon's other front tooth came out this week so now he has all four front teeth gone and he looks so funny. 

Friday Josh was off so I had planned a bunch of appointments for when the kids were done with school. First was Lily's 12 year check up. She is in the 80th percentile for weight and off the charts for height, measuring in at 5'6 and 1/4. Everything looked good so that was wonderful to hear. I was supposed to go get more blood taken because my brilliant doctor's office didn't test my thyroid last time I went in for blood work, which is really the whole reason I do these yearly physicals. So annoying. I had to reschedule my appointment (for the third time, mind you because of their issues) and then had to go get more blood taken Friday. Unfortunately, the lab was closed for lunch (which no one told me about) and I tried to just hang out in Leonardtown for awhile waiting for it to open (we went to the library and I got Lily a doughnut and we walked around the wharf, which was super nice Lily time) but Curtis and I had ortho appointments so I couldn't wait any longer. I ended up rescheduling my appointment, again. So lame that they just didn't do this right the first time but whatever, I'll worry about it in January. 

I rushed home and dropped Lily off and picked up Curtis and we went to the orthodontist for evaluations. Good news for Curtis, he doesn't have to have braces until he is 16 or 17 when he is done growing because he is also going to need oral surgery to move his whole bottom jaw forward. Yowsers. Not excited about that but we'll worry about that in a few years. I think I am going to start Invisalign. My smile is not what I want it to be and we have good insurance now so I think I am going to go for it. It is still hard to spend that amount of money on myself but I wouldn't think twice if it were a kid and we did it for Josh 10 years ago so it seems fair that I should get to have a smile I like too. Then Lily went to dance, we had leftovers for dinner and watched Elf, which was so fun. Josh and I watched Last Christmas after the kids were in bed and it was different than I expected but a decent movie.

Saturday I went to church to practice my songs for next week, we did some Christmas shopping, we took a nativity picture for a ward nativity video that was a bit of a fiasco (I didn't volunteer but couldn't say no when directly asked), and then after dinner we went driving around looking at lights. We were in a neighborhood dropping off a birthday gift for a friend when a fire truck came by with Santa throwing out candy. It was a fun and fortunate coincidence becauset the kids loved it! We drove around three neighborhoods and saw a lot of great lights before we headed home. Josh and I watched The Christmas Chronicles after the kids were in bed and it was ok. 

Today has been a nice Sunday. I listened to Sunday School, we zoomed in for Sacrament meeting which was really nice today and then watched the video primary program I had forgotten to show the kids. Josh had 15 minutes from when he got home until he had meetings so we did a quick sacrament and then the kids went off to play Legos (boys) and paint (girls) and then we started our Christmas cookie baking. We're on a short break before we make some more so that I can take them to our book club exchange. I'm excited for my piano recital and book club and the end of school this week. I am ready for Christmas except for the baking and wrapping and we are still trying to decide what family we should help out and how. 

Josh was discussing his favorite Christmas movies with a friend and it is so intriguing to me how different my list is from most. I can't stand the Christmas Story or Christmas Vacation because they are just too dumb. I guess I am old-fashioned because my to-watch list every year is White Christmas, Holiday Inn, Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alone, Elf, Arthur Christmas, Grinch, and The Year Without a Santa Claus. I also like Frosty, Here Comes Santa Claus and Charlie Brown. I like to watch The Holiday and While You Were Sleeping if there is time too and I usually watch a few Hallmark movies while wrapping. Josh likes Prancer so we watch that one sometimes and last year he made us watch this 80s made for tv movie called The Year they Saved Christmas but it was a bit 80s for me. The Santa Clause is ok and I liked the new one last year that was on Disney plus (I think) called Noelle. I can watch It's A Wonderful Life every few years but I can't do that one every year. 

Less than two weeks!