Week 40

 We made it! We got through this past week and now we have two full weeks of Christmas family fun to be had. I am so excited. No school and so now all I have to nag my kids about is cleaning. Hooray! 

Monday I painted the basement wall, did laundry, took some stuff over to Nola for our book club exchange and then I hosted my virtual piano recital. It went pretty well considering not everyone's pianos are in tune and the sound wasn't great on all the devices but everyone played well. I really missed seeing all the parents of my students because they are all neighbors and friends but at least the kids got some kind of performing experience.

My MIL sent me these as a good luck on the piano recital-so pretty and thoughtful!

Tuesday we had to pick up some stuff from Curtis's school and groceries and then we finally got the carpet put back down. Very exciting after four months to finally have our basement put back together! The kids were all running around in the open space and it made me so happy to have that space back again. That night we had book club (while Josh did all the ballet pick ups) and we shared favorite Christmas stories, ate cookies and did a book swap. It was fun and Christmassy, although way more fun to be together so we can steal books and really chat and laugh, but we'll take what we can get at this point. 

Wednesday I did body pump and not a lot else. It was rainy and gloomy and I was tired in body and soul so as soon as the kids were done with school the girls and I watched The Nutcracker and the Four Realms while the boys played Legos. 

Thursday we went for a walk down to the park and it was cold but nice to get outside. I went to BJs and took Lily to dance and I practiced the piano a lot and helped with school. Brandon is getting pretty independent though so more and more I just need to check that he did everything and just help him with a few things. I had to help Emma with some stuff and check to make sure she was completing everything because she tends to rush and just want to get things done. I also have to follow up with Curtis because he just has a lot and misses stuff so it can take a good amount of time each day. After dance pick up and dinner we watched Mickey's Christmas Carol and then Josh had bishopric meeting while I wrapped presents and watched a Hallmark movie.

Friday was a short school day and then Emma and Brandon watched Polar Express. I honestly don't remember what else we did that day except I took Lily to ballet and made dinner and Emma cried because we didn't watch a movie but took time to read lots of Harry Potter. I'm reading book 4 to the youngers and we're about two thirds of the way through. My mother-in-law sent a Lego HP advent calendar and it is all stuff from the Yule ball so that was fun to just recently read that to them and have them get it. Josh and I watched The Man Who Invented Christmas though and it was good.

Saturday we finally got the couch back into place and the TV back downstairs and it just all made me so happy. Josh and Curtis were very busy with their 3D printer and I ran a bunch of errands for most of the afternoon, including practicing a piano/organ duet at church for awhile. Then we had an earlier dinner and watched Miracle on 34th Street. We are really working through our Christmas movie list!

Sunday we got to go to church and it was a busy one for me. I ran through the musical numbers I was playing for 40 minutes before the meeting, then I played prelude music, music during the sacrament time since no one can sing, then more music while all the zoom people logged in, then two musical numbers and then postlude music. My wrist was seriously hurting by the end of it all but it all went pretty smoothly, other than a few mistakes on the organ/piano duet. It was a serious organ part and I am not a serious organ player so I think I did pretty well considering how untrained I am. I played the piano really well and that felt good because I can get really nervous when playing in front of other people. I just kept telling myself I was playing to celebrate Jesus and I kept thinking about how much I love him and it helped me stay calm and play better, at least on the piano/violin duet I did. I love when we actually get to go to church and hope we all can soon. My friend who isn't a member tuned in with her husband and parents and that was awesome. The rest of the day we baked cookies and I read a lot of Christmas stories to Emma and Brandon and I watched a Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert and Josh finally squeezed us into his schedule and we had tithing settlement at 5pm. Then dinner and we watched The Grinch. It was one of the loveliest Sundays we've had in months. 

Today we cleaned like crazy and my children were not happy about it. I am a tough inspector when it comes to checking their bathrooms and rooms but eventually it got done while I did loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, swept and mopped and cleaned the basement. Then I did a grocery pick up and dropped off a few things to some of Josh's co-workers. I got home, put away the food and had a few minutes to take a breath before my parents got here. We're excited to have them for the week and grateful they made it safely.