S is for Say it With Me

"not everybody likes this kind of life, 

but we do don't we?"

Good morning December 2 2025.

6:00 am

Koda sleeps on the couch. She does what she wants.

Andrew wants to be in charge of Elf on the Shelf this year. Today is the first day and I realize this is going to be soo fun. He is so creative. 

First of all: last night he was pacing and biting his fingers like he used to do when he was little and his brain was busy imagining stuff. It's been a long time since I've seen him do "the pace". His little engine is revvvvving with ideas. 

Second of all: He recently became a Cowboys fan and I love it. I don't know where it came from but he knows all the stats. I never realized the star on our tree is totally a Cowboy icon!

Every morning from 6:00-8:00 I do chores. 

It's between the time the kids are up, getting ready for seminary and off to school etc. 

by 8:00 Jim comes home from seminary and that's when I stop doing the chores.

Setting a "timer" works so well for me and chores! I just keep cleaning stuff until times up. 

By 8:00 it's like the maid came. 

We got a new vacuum with a laser light and it is so terrible and great!

It shows all the stuff on the floor. You would be surprised how much you don't see with the naked eye. 

Evan and Jim leave around 6:25

Having old kids is wild. They just get themselves up and showered and their hair done. 

So much deoderant and smelly good things applied. 

I eat cottage cheese and fruit for breakfast. 

I'm going to the temple this morning, so I cut my cleaning hours short. 

I braid Avery's hair today. 

She leaves around 6:45

7:45

Lisa picks me and Andrew up, 

we drop the kids at school.

Temple sesh at 10:00 but we get there early and get all our talking out before we go in. 

12:10

After, we are hungry. We accidently get on a bridge in Vancouver that takes us where we didn't want to go, but it was actually the best because we end up at this farm with the bessst burger.

We sit by a window to get warmed by the sun. The sun came out for a while today! 

1:40 

Back in America almost home.

There is a bald eagle in the tree, see it?

Clouds again. 

2:30

I dink around waiting for kids to get home.

Take a nap.

3:07 

Jim works on putting lights on the house,

the kids come home. 

Evan has a baskeball game later, so all three are home.

3:30

Fine, I'll exersize. 

A little full body weights.

4:19

Andrew's friends are always out hanging around. 

The moon is bright already!

Jim takes Evan to his game,

I take Koda on a walk. 

There is so much fog already. See Koda the fox in the grass?

By the time we are out of the forest, it's getting dark!

4:45

Jim has the lights up.

5:45

Game time.

We beat this team by a lot. 

Evan plays a little. His JV team is really good. So far they are undefeated, but we are still early in the season playing easy teams. 

After his game is over, we go to the big gym and watch the girls.

Evan changes and joins the band. 

He plays Seven Nation Army on the kit!

So good. 

Then bongos for a while.

We watch Varsity boys until half time and then go home. 

8:14

I "made" lasagna for dinner. 

We eat. 

I go looking for Avery. I haven't seen her all day!

She is busy working on a project for school. She has to present tomorrow. 

We drink smoothies and watch sports. 

9:00 

We do Advent and Prayers.

Around 9:45 Andrew shoos us all to bed so that he can work on his next Vincent place. 

I will post all the Vincent scenes at the end of the month. You don't want to miss it.

Today was such a normal, good day. I know what a treasure that is. 

 

October

This has been a weird month, I think because we have been working so much on projects with the "new" house, and moving in and getting the hang of a new room.

 The first night I didn't sleep well because there were new smells and sounds. It's so quiet down here - I'm used to a massively creaky floor (upstairs). Up there I know every move of every person because the floor gives them away. Down here: silence. no foot steps. no doors. 

There has been a lot of soccer this month, obviously. I'm laying here in my new living room, watching the World Series after a Saturday of soccer games. Today was our last games!

These pictures are from the beginning of the season. We are still fresh and eager. 

One Sunday we had a fire at Frank's. We messed around on the bicycle built for two. 

This month, every Friday we would celebrate a week well done by going out to eat good food at a restaurant while Hudson was at football practice. It was a great Fall ritual. 

Then at 7:00 we would head to the High School lights. I mostly just watched Evan do his thing. 

We found a snake during a family forest walk.

Avery is almost finished with her Junior year of soccer. We head into district games this week. 

This is the first year she hasn't been "over it". She hasn't complained about soccer at all! 

It's also been a rough season. (I'm "over it")

This trail was covered in dry crunchy leaves. We could barely hear each other talk over the crunch. 

Last week soccer was crazy. Can you tell the amount of downpour going on? 

The second game right after this was even WORSE. 

We all hated it. I really thought they were going to cancel. But nope, we slurped through it. 

I love our new TV room. 

Ichabod.

This year I told the kids they can come to the thrift store and find a costume -

Andrew found Link! Exactly what he was looking for!

The Trunk or Treat was so super fun as always...

Arhaan, the sweet Indian boy there is really good at soccer. 

Today after the game he told me he won't be playing in the spring because 

"I need to focus on my studies".

I laughed out loud. He's in 5th grade.

I told him a little sports would actually help him with academics. But I'm not his boss, so. 

During the second game we were covered in a rainbow! 

It was amazing!

Also we won! It was a fun way to end the season. 

They are dousing Noah in water because he scores 90% of our goals. Hat trick today. 

I kind of have a lot to say about coaching, but I don't know if all the words are formed in my head. 

I just really like it. I think it scratches the itch to be a teacher - relationships, teaching, leading a team.

I love seeing progress. There was leaps of progress this season! 

Andrew has become so good! He really controls the ball and delivers it. 

Miguel - the kid who complained all practice is now a key winger, taking the ball down and doing stuff with it. 

It's just so satisfying. It's like a puzzle to solve and we are ongoing solving it.