A Second Family Skoarding Day!

After cancelling our second, family ski day of the winter scheduled for MLK Day, I transferred our lift tickets and rescheduled Ella's ski lesson for the following Saturday, January 22nd.  Since my mom asked us all to take rapid, Covid tests before she was willing to come watch Emmett for us, we all lined up in our kitchen on Thursday night and crossed our fingers that we would get six negative results.  Luckily, we all tested negative and so my mom agreed to come down for Emmett's birthday party on the 21st and then spend the night so that she would already be here bright and early when we had to leave at 7 a.m. on the morning of the 22nd.  We pulled out right on time Saturday morning and made the long drive to White Pass where we were greeted with beautiful blue skies and the largest crowds Ron has ever seen up there due to a massive kids' clinic going on that day.  Luckily, we  were still able to make it to the ski lesson area in the nick of time and sent Ella off for a 2-hour private lesson with her instructor, Mike.  Ron then spent the morning snow boarding on the lower mountain with Logan off of the beginner's chairlift while Lia and I worked our way up the mountain to ski a few runs before lunch time.  The views were stunning with a snowcapped, Mt. Rainier standing tall in all her glory.  

After making our way back down the mountain, Lia and I met Ron and the two younger kids at the car for lunch.  Ron and I then switched passes and children and he then spent the afternoon on the top of the mountain with Lia while I forced Ella to go down the beginner's run with Logan way ahead of us both times.  Although she totally learned how to turn during her two-hour lesson, Ella was still much more comfortable on the magic carpet hill.  As a result, she struggled to have a good attitude skiing with me and continued to fall over and over again after making a few turns each time.  So, unfortunately, our time in the afternoon on the beginner's hill was not as fun as I had hoped it would be, but Logan and I tried to be patient and we all survived.  After throwing in the towel at the chair lift, Logan and I agreed to head back to the magic carpet hill with Ella the last 30 minutes or so of the day and she perked right up and flew down the hill every single time without falling once.  So, at least we were able to end the day on a positive note.  Overall, I am just grateful to have had the chance to get our three children back up on the mountain a second time together and to enjoy a beautiful day outside.  Since we are now embarking on one of the busiest winter seasons of our family career, we will not have the opportunity to go skoarding again until mid to late March, so I am so thankful that we were able to make this happen with the help of my wonderful mom who watched Emmett for twelve, long hours for us while we were away!

The stunning view of Mt. Rainier that greeted Lia and me when we got off the chairlift at the top of the mountain.

Lia and me with Mt. Rainier in the background.

Mt. Rainier and mama.

Lia with Mt. Rainier behind her.

A family photo we managed to get someone to take of us next to the lodge after lunch.

Another shot of the fam before we split up and headed our separate ways.

Logan did a great job snowboarding with Ella and me and totally took care of himself which I was grateful for as I had my hand's full with Ella.  He would quickly snowboard down a large section of the run and then stop and wait for us.  He did this over and over again.

Ella giving me a smile at the top of the chairlift before heading down the mountain.

Ella looking cute after making one of her many falls.

Ella skiing across the hill.

Ella skiing towards me.

Ell coming to a stop with the help of a snow plow.

Logan snow boarding towards me with Ella in the background.

Logan smiling at me as he fell backwards.

Celebrating Emmett's 3rd Birthday TEN Days Late!

After the Coronavirus blazed its way through every member of our family the past week, we waited until everyone was healthy before celebrating Emmett's birthday exactly ten days late.  Although we had been counting down the days to his birthday, he luckily did not understand that we actually skipped celebrating it once everyone got sick.  Whenever Emmett would ask me when his birthday was, I kept on saying, "When everyone gets better!"  He luckily accepted this answer every single time and we luckily managed to avoid any drama or tears for postponing his birthday ten days.

I invited Emmett's little friends, Luke and Calvin, to join us on January 20th at the mall to spend 1.5 hours at the bouncy house place before heading to the food court to eat lunch and share a birthday cake that Emmett and I had bought the day before.  Since Emmett has been begging for weeks to go here with his two friends, it seemed like the perfect and easy way to have a "friend" celebration without requiring much work from me.  We then hosted my mom for a "Thomas the Train" themed birthday party on January 21st.  I bought Thomas balloons and paper plates, cups, and napkins for the party and also made him a Thomas cake.  Emmett was so excited all day long!  After everyone got home from work and school, we ate a roast dinner with all the fixings in the dining room followed by gift opening and then finished off the evening with cake and ice cream.  Emmett was so happy throughout the entire evening and really enjoyed every moment of his little birthday party.  In addition, he opened up his gift with such enthusiasm and excitement that he screamed and lifted up his presents into the air almost every time.  It was just the cutest thing to see!  We are so grateful that our Emmett Keller came into this world three years ago and joined our family.  We all love him so much and just can't imagine our life without him!

Emmett posing on top of the train at the bouncy house place with his friends, Luke and Calvin.

Emmett balancing on top of the train smokestack with Luke at his side.

The boys going for a ride on the little carousel.

Cheese!

Emmett and Luke hanging out on the hood of a toy car.

The boys getting ready to eat some cake after lunch in the food court.

We started off Emmett's "official" birthday on January 21st with out traditional waffles, whipped cream, strawberries, and sprinkles.  Although Lia had already left for school, Ella and Logan were happy to join in on the fun.

A picture of the "Thomas the Train" cake that I made for the family party that evening.

One of the fun, Thomas balloons that we tied to the chairs in the dining room before Emmett's party started.

Emmett waiting to eat his birthday dinner.

The family, plus grandma, eating dinner together.

Emmett smiling before opening up his presents.

Emmett holding up his new pack of markers from Aunt Blanche.  Since this was the first gift he chose to open, he screamed with such excitement after unwrapping the pens.  It was so funny!

Emmett proudly showing off the new accessories (crane, two bridges, etc) that he opened to add to his wooden, train track collection.

Emmett proudly holding up his new construction and train books.

Holding his new jacket and sweatshirt from Lola.

Emmett playing with his new Mega Bloks set after all of the gift opening was done.

Emmett smiling his big, cheesy grin before we sang, "Happy Birthday" to him.

A family, group photo before eating the cake.

Emmett and Lia enjoying some birthday cake and ice cream.

Covid Finally Came...

Well, after managing to dodge the Corona virus for almost two years, it caught up to all SIX of us this past week!  In some ways, I can't believe that all six of us caught it in the same week and, in other ways, it makes total sense since it all started with our 2-year old catching it first who doesn't understand the first thing about germs and quarantining.  Regardless, this is our story...

On the first day back to school from Winter Break on January 4th, there was still so much ice on the roads from low temperatures, that school was delayed by two hours.  After Lia left for junior high, I made the impromptu decision to invite a brother-sister combo over to play with Logan and Ella since school was delayed until 11:15.  When they arrived, Emmett followed Logan and his friend, Bennett, around like a little puppy dog the entire time.  The very next day, I received a text from the mom informing me that Bennett had tested positive for Covid.  Since we have had two other exposures earlier this school year (Ella with a friend in October and Lia with another friend in December) and neither one of them caught it, I kind of brushed it off hoping that our luck would continue and forgot about it within a few hours.  However, when I went to read stories to Emmett the following Friday night, January 7th, I noticed that his body felt really warm.  After giving him some baby Tylenol, I put him to bed hoping that it was just a little bug that toddlers typically pick up in the winter and hoped that his fever would be gone in the morning.  I really hadn't even made the connection yet to his exposure to Bennett earlier in the week.

When Emmett woke up later that night crying and begging to come into bed with us, I was pretty confused.  Since I was too tired to rock him for comfort (which is what I normally would have done), I reluctantly agreed, and brought him to bed with us for the rest of the night.  Emmett ended up having a very restless night sleep and woke up many times crying and whining which is not normal for him.  On the morning of January 8th, Emmett still had a temperature of 100.8 and also a runny nose.  That is when I started to think we might be in trouble.  After spending an hour on the phone and the computer that morning, I managed to get him signed up for a drive-through Covid test and also placed an order to pick up a pack of two, rapid Covid tests at the same clinic.  After arranging for someone to take Ella to basketball practice, Emmett and I raced off to the clinic five minutes away to find an HOUR long, testing line.  About four cars away from the end of the testing line, I started to feel a sore throat coming on.  I couldn't believe it.  When we got up to the front of the line, they reluctantly agreed to give me a test as long as I signed up for one before closing that night (or else my test results would be thrown out).  I also learned that the clinic was so backed up with Covid tests due to the increase in the Omicron variant, it would take up to seven days to get the results back instead of the normal 2-3 days.  Needless to say, I quickly parked my car and ran into the clinic with Emmett after being tested to pick up the two rapid tests.  We then raced home to drop Emmett off to Lia for nap time so that I could meet Ron and Logan downtown for Logan's first basketball game of the season.

It was then business as usual for the rest of that Saturday.  After attending Logan's basketball game, I came home and recruited the help of all three older kids to clean and vacuum their bedrooms (which is always a major undertaking after Christmas each year).  In addition, I helped Lia clean the children's bathroom.  We didn't finish until 7 p.m. that night and I noticed that my hands were shaking and I felt really tired.  After dinner, dishes, and getting the kids to bed, I felt completely wiped out and more exhausted than normal when I crawled into bed.

When I woke up the morning of January 9th, my entire body ached from head to toe.  It was like something I had never felt before.  I could barely walk to the bathroom and back before collapsing in bed.  In addition, my sore throat was raging and I had zero energy and zero appetite.  That is when I was finally convinced that Emmett and I might actually have Covid.  So after Ron fed the kids breakfast, he first helped me take the rapid, Covid test.  After waiting 10 minutes, my results came back positive.  He then had Emmett take his test next and his results also came back positive.  Covid had finally hit our family.

Since I was so sick, it really was not difficult to quarantine in my bedroom while Ron played Mr. Mom all day on Sunday.  The problem was that Emmett was already starting to act and feel normal and there was just no way that we could "lock" him into a bedroom to watch movies all day long.  He just is too young for that sort of thing.  In addition, there just was no way to tell him to be careful about his distance from others or to not to touch his siblings, etc.  So, he basically ran around the house like a Covid tornado and infected everyone in the household.

On Monday, January 10th, Ron woke up with a sore throat.  Since I was still on my death bed, he got the three older kids off to school before running into work to pick up a rapid test (that they have in abundance for testing athletes) and his computer since he was no longer allowed to be at work due to having a sore throat with an active Covid case at home.  This turned out to be a massive blessing for me as I stayed in bed all of Monday and most of Tuesday due to no energy, no appetite, and a headache in my eyes.  Emmett was basically back to normal by Monday (with the exception of taking a really long afternoon nap) and just would have been too much work for me.  As a result, Ron juggled work from home while taking care of the basic, mom duties during these two days.  By Wednesday, I felt about 50% and took back over the mom responsibilities although I still had one day left of my quarantine.  We figured that there really wasn't any point in me staying in the bedroom for the fifth day since Emmett had never quarantined in the first place and Ron had prepared all of the kids meals for three days while being infected and not knowing it.  Although his rapid test from Monday had come back negative, the test he mailed in from work that same day to a laboratory had finally come back Wednesday as positive.

As I started to feel a little better on Wednesday, Ron's sore throat worsened and a bad cough developed.  In addition, Lia told us on Wednesday evening that she had started to get a sore throat and Logan reluctantly mentioned that he had had a stuffy nose for like one hour that evening.  Although I was a bad mom and sent them off to school on Thursday, I took all three children to be tested at their doctor's office that afternoon.  At this point, Lia looked and felt really sick and Logan and Ella were totally fine.  After keeping Lia home from school on Friday (which was a half day), I received a call from the doctor's office after Logan and Ella had gotten home from school informing me that ALL three kids had tested positive for Covid.  Although Lia's test result came back as no surprise, I was a bit surprised about Ella and Logan since they acted and felt 100% normal.  In fact, when Ron told both of them that they tested positive, Logan just looked up from his computer screen and said, "Hmm, okay," and Ella flashed Ron a big smile and said, "I'm happy!"  Silly kids.  

So although we had already postponed Emmett's birthday party indefinitely, we had not cancelled anything else that week due to the older three children being vaccinated (which now allows them to go to school as long as they are symptom free).  After getting the test results on Friday, we had to pull both Ella and Logan out of their basketball games on Saturday and cancel our big ski day that we had scheduled for MLK Day on January 17th.  I had already bought everyone's tickets and reserved a 2-hour, private lesson for Ella.  This was the biggest bummer of them all as we have so few opportunities to take the two middle kids skiing/boarding this winter due to Ella and Logan playing basketball.  We then just hunkered down for the 3-day weekend since the three older kids were technically in the midst of their 5-day quarantine.  I was feeling about 90% at this point and was able to get some things done for the first time in over week.  Although Ron still had a cough, he felt pretty good energy wise and completed some projects that needed to be done.  The kids just stayed at home and watched lots of TV and played with each other. 

On Tuesday, January 18th, I called both of the kids' schools early in the morning to get in touch with their Covid coordinators.  Since Lia and Logan both had "symptoms" on Wednesday night, that counted as their day #1 and were allowed to return back to school on Tuesday since it was their day #6.  Since Ella never had any symptoms, the day she was tested for Covid counted as her day #1 and so she had to wait one more day to return to school.  So, she happily stayed home with Emmett yesterday before heading back to school today.  Although it wasn't very lucky that all six of us caught Covid, it is very lucky that it happened when it did as our school district had just changed the 10-day quarantine to a 5-day quarantine on January 7th!  How is that for amazing timing?!  As a result, Lia only missed a half day of school, Logan missed no school, and Ella only missed one full day of school which is incredible compared to all of the students who missed 10 days or even 14 days which was the quarantine time up until this past October!  So, I would say that we definitely got off easy compared to others.  In addition, I am so grateful that none of us had severe or life-threatening symptoms--especially little Emmett who is not vaccinated.  I am also so grateful that Ron was forced to work from home all last week as I just did not have the energy on Monday and Tuesday to be a mom.  And, lastly, I am so grateful that Covid did not strike our family during the holiday season when we had so many wonderful activities and events planned OR right before or during a big vacation like our one to North Carolina last summer or our upcoming trip to Disneyland.  That would have been so disappointing and a huge financial loss!  

So, with all of that said, I am grateful for the tender mercies that did happen during this Covid storm that hit our home last week and am so thankful for the fact that all six of us might be a little more protected and immune from catching this virus again...

The cute sign that Ella immediately put up on her door on the morning of January 9th after learning that Emmett and I had tested positive.

The "Get Well" card that the three older kids made for me and placed on my lunch tray that same day.

The message inside the card which perfectly sums up the personalities of my three older children:

Lia wrote a sweet and sincere message

Logan was uncomfortable with expressing any emotions so he just drew a picture

Ella who loves any attention from me just wanted to know when I would get better

After days and days of trying to stay away from Emmett, it was a bit of a relief to find out that all three older children tested positive for Covid on January 13th.  As a result, this news was met with a big hug from Emmett.

And then Ella joined in on the hug!

And then Lia jumped in to make it one big, official, group, Covid hug!

Lastly, here is a picture of Ella enjoying some TV time with Emmett on her one day that she was forced to stay home from school on January 18th when Lia and Logan were allowed to go back.

Emmett's 3-Year Update

Since I am still recovering from Covid today on Emmett's 3rd birthday, I just did not have the energy to pose him for his regular picture on the light brown chair in the living room.  As a result, this darling picture that I took of him playing in the snow at Priest Lake a few weeks ago will have to do.  It's hard to believe that this little guy is officially 3 years old today.  He is such a funny boy with such a big personality.  He constantly talks and has an excellent vocabulary.  He says funny things every day and keeps us laughing.  He is also huge to say the least.  He was in the 91st percentile for height and 92nd for weight at his 3-year check-up.  As a result, he looks older than his age.  He continues to eat like a champ for the most part and loves to eat multiple snacks a day in between meals.  He still takes a two to three hour nap every afternoon which is a major life saver for me and is still doing a much better job at sleeping at night from around 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. most days.  He rarely wakes up in the middle of the night anymore and, when he does, he almost never needs to be rocked in the recliner chair.  Hooray! 

After pulling his pacifier from his night time sleep routine the first week of Christmas break in December, he only needed Ron to rock him for comfort before putting him to bed the first few nights.  After the first week, he was totally fine going to be bed without his pacifier.  Unfortunately, I caved after one day of listening to Emmett struggle to fall asleep at naptime and gave him his pacifier back for his naps.  I know that this was not the best thing to do, but I plan on taking away his ya ya for good after our big trip to California in February.  In addition, Emmett forced upon me two big changes last week after the kids went back to school after Christmas break.  Within a matter of days of each other, he refused to sit in the high chair at meal time or sit in his huge car seat in the car.  As a result, he literally forced me to change him into sitting on a little booster chair at the kitchen table and Logan's old booster seat in the car.  Although I don't think that he is technically big or old enough to make the switch to a car booster seat, I have never bothered looking it up online.  If it is the only way that I am going to get him to cooperate and ride in the car with me, I really am not going to worry about it.  Plus, I love the ease and convenience of travelling with a small booster seat as opposed to the massive car seat.  So, as far as I am concerned, it's a win win.  I still just think it is so funny that Emmett decided that it was time for these changes and not me.  He did the exact same thing this past September when HE was the one that decided that it was time for me to potty train him.  What a funny kid.  

Besides these milestone changes, Emmett still loves trains, trucks, and all things construction.  He loves playing with toys like his little trains or cars and also likes puzzles, coloring, and reading books.  He thoroughly enjoys any one-on-one attention he can get from any of his siblings or me.  He also loves his TV time every day and is now enjoying watching a program every day from Disney Plus that his Aunt Austin and Uncle Robbie gave the kids as a joint birthday gift this year.  His favorites are "Bluey" and the Spiderman cartoon series.  Emmett also still loves playing with his friends, Luke and Calvin, and asks weekly if he can see them.  If the weather cooperates, he loves playing outside riding his bike on the sidewalk in front of our house of playing on the playground in our backyard.  If he is fed, rested, and getting his way, Emmett is really one of the happiest 3-year old boys around!  We love you, Emmy Bemms!

Logan's 1st Basketball Game in Two Years!

Logan finished his 2nd grade basketball season by playing in his last game on March 7, 2020 just a few days before everything shut down for the pandemic.  Although some sports were offered winter 2021, basketball was completely cancelled since it was an indoor sport that required kids to basically pass a germ ball around for an entire hour.  This sport had the potential of being a Covid exposure nightmare and, as a result, the Parks and Recreation organization didn't even try to bring it back.  So, we were all thrilled to learn this fall that basketball would be offered again this winter after an almost two year break.  After convincing the moms of two of Logan's friends to sign up, I registered Logan back in October and waited to see who his coach would be and which boys were on his team when the season started the beginning of December.  Due to Logan's tendency to not like change or to try new things, I was worried that he would not want to return to basketball after such a long break.  Luckily, Logan ended up being placed on a team with 100% of the boys from his school and that practiced at his own school which made it a total comfort zone for him.  As a result, he was actually happy to go to his first practice and has enjoyed going to practices ever since.  

His first of eight games was today against an elite team which really doesn't make any sense since he is competing in a rec league.  This is the only time Logan's team is scheduled to play against an elite team and, unfortunately, it happened to be the first game of the season.  So, although their team got slaughtered (final score was 7 to 47), I was so impressed to see that Logan and the rest of the players never gave up.  They gave it their all and never quit trying the entire time!  Logan wasn't intimidated by the higher level of players he was playing against, and I was so relieved to see him running out on the court with all his might, passing, dribbling, and shooting the ball as much as possible.  Although he didn't make any baskets, I was just happy to see him handling the ball as much as he did today.  Here are some pictures from his game...

Logan dribbling the ball into the key.

Logan chasing after the ball.

Logan trying to shoot.

Walking back down the court.

Logan reaching for the rebound.

Taking a break while listening to their coaches on the sidelines.

Logan passing the ball back into the court.

Dribbling around the key.

Chasing down the ball with a pack of players.

Logan guarding his man.

Logan running to catch the ball being thrown back into the game from the referee.