Apology letter

Gabbi's had a poopy accident problem for a while now. We have tried everything we can think of to help her. She just won't stop what she's doing to go to the bathroom. She holds it till there isn't anything else she can do and it just comes out. In different amount of course. Some days are worse then others, but it never fails that she will have dirty underwear by the end of the day. I have tried to be patient with her, but my patience is all but gone. 

On top of it all she has been hiding her underwear so she won't get in trouble when we see dirty ones. This drives me even more crazy. At least I know now why the downstairs has always smelled a little bit off. We have tried to explain to her that some accidents are ok, you're working on it, but hiding them that where I draw the line. She has even flushed some down the toilet as well. 

Well after finding two pairs of dried up crusty underwear hidden in her dress drawer underneath her Sunday's dresses I blew up. I yelled, screamed, and cried. Then I walked away to let her clean up the mess and I wanted nothing else to do with her. 

Later that night she left this note on my bed. I felt horrible. I just wish this whole problem would end and that her and I wouldn't have to have this constant battle over the dumbest things.

Painting party

While dad was gone we had to find things to entertain ourselves. One of which was a painting nail party. I started with my nails and of course when Gabbi wanted that she insisted on me painting her nails too. 

After seeing how much fun Gabbi was having, the boys couldn't help it either. They bugged me to paint their nails. They wouldn't settle with clear polish either. They both picked a bright blue color, different blues but both every bright.

They all loved their beautiful nails.

Reading

I love my kids fascination to book. Half the time they may be reading it half the time they are just looking at the pages, but overall they love books. 

Even at a young age William has joined the others with this love of books. He grabbed a book, climbed up on the chair, and sat there for the longest time. He didn't even look up when the other kids walked into the room. 

2nd Grade program

Every year each grade puts together a program for the school, family and friends. This year the 2nd graders did their program on Friends. They talked about how to be a friend, how to make a friend, and how to stay a friend. They had been practicing for the last month of so and Gabbi couldn't wait to show us what they put together.

She was so excited that she failed to mention that she had two parts in the program. I had asked her if she had any speaking parts that we needed to work on and she said no. Well she was right. She didn't have any speaking parts she had singing ones.

Her first was a duet. They were put in two groups and sang a sing after me type song. She did a great job and had the biggest smile on her face when the song was over.

Her second part in the program was actually a solo. It wasn't a very long solo, but it was a solo none the less. She did a great job too.

After the program was over she ran up to me with such excitement. She had so much fun and was even more excited that she had managed to keep a secret about her singing parts in the program.

They all did a great job and I couldn't have been more proud of her.

No naps

William is finally tall enough to open doors. Big step for him, big annoyance for me. Now when I lay him down for his naps if he doesn't fall asleep right away he out and playing the next time I turn around. Sadly the side effect of this is he gets ornery and is sleepy all day. I can often find him curled up somewhere either on the verge of sleep or sleeping. Don't get me wrong that's nice, but it always at the wrong times. 

One particular night he came in to watch a movie with me while the other kids were down stairs playing. The next thing I know, he's fast asleep. At least it was close to bed time. I just took him downstairs for the night. Sweet baby boy. 

Watercolor boats

At preschool the kids were taught about the letter B. With that they had a fun activity with things that start with the letter B; bubbles, boats, etc. So for fun the kids were given colored bubbles to paint their boats. From pictures they seemed like they had a lot of fun. Owen couldn't stop talking about it. He had a blast.

Eye

Around our house when someone gets hurts its generally on the head somewhere. In the process of chaning all the rooms around we got new blinds to go in the office. We took down the curtain rod with the intent to throw it away. Sadly we never got around to it and it was just out. 

Owen and William came across the curtain rod and decided to start playing with it. One thing led to another and William ended up getting hit in the face just below the eye. I was grateful that it was just that and nothing more. He was such a trooper too.

Ice Castles

We decided to have one last family activity before Ben headed out of town for a class. We heard about the Ice Castles in Midway for the last few years, so we decided that it would be our last hurrah. We got our tickets on line and headed to Midway. We left as soon as the kids got out of school.

The drive was long, but once we finally got there the kids were excited to find out where we were going and what we were going to see. We got them all decked out in their winter gear and got in line. When we first got in they had Anna, Elsa, and Sven at the entrance to take pictures with. The girls were very excited about the princesses. Even the boys had some fun talking to Sven. 

After some pictures we headed inside. There was no rhyme or reason to see all the sculptures and sadly there were a lot of small areas that were all crowded with people. We did our best to be able to see all of it, but it was starting to drive me crazy. It was so crazy and chaotic that I didn't even want to stay anymore. Ben was bugged as well, sadly not just by that. We tried our best to make the best of it.

At least the kids were having fun. They were able to find every knock and cranny they could and crawl in. I was surprised at some of the spaces they could wiggle their way into.

We walked through as much as we could and then saved the best for last (for them), the slide. They had a large slide and a small one. We couldn't find the line for the big one so we settled for the small one. They probably wouldn't have gone done the big one anyway. All of them seemed to have a lot of fun going down the slide. They each went down a few times and then we decided that it was time to go.

We walked back to the car, took all the winter gear off, and then headed to McDonald's for some dinner. The kids were excited to be able to play and eat at the same time.

Despite the chaos of the activity we were able to have a little fun. We will probably never go again. It was one of those one time is enough experiences.

Two Dollar Bill

Our next play in the season lineup was called The Two Dollar Bill. It again was a play not a musical and I wasn't sure that I would enjoy it. Ben looked up some information on it and said it sounded intriguing. 

Ironically enough we started the date with a trip to Costco. We were checking out some stuff and decided that it would be time effective to just eat at their food court while we were there. Its definitely not date material, but we both like their food. 

After we were done eating we headed to Salt Lake and got there with plenty of time to spare. 

When we got to our seats the stage was set and ready to go. Reading the playbill there were only 4 characters in it, like the last one. This one was the story of a College professor, an Aid, the Dean, and a student.

The College professor was being awarded a prestigious award for a paper he wrote, but was surprising all when he tried to deny and withdraw his paper for the award. Even the Dean of the College, his wife, couldn't understand his reasoning. Throughout the play he was trying to explain why without really explaining why. In the mean time a student came to him about a grade on a paper. He told her the grade was for plagiarizing her paper. She quoted someone without citations which made it seem like she was plagiarizing. She claimed the she had a photogenic mind. She proved it, but was still requiring her to redo the paper or accept the grade. His aid didn't like how he was handling the situation and wanted nothing to do with it.

In the meantime, the Dean, his wife, had been trying to get a hold a him to discuss the award and bigger yet an accusation that he never graduated from College. It finally came out within many arguments that he had never received his bachelors. He was supposed to take a class towards his last semester and applied to a graduate program. He was accepted to the graduate program and had to start sooner then he could finish the class. He ended up going for his graduate graduated with honors and didn't see the necessity to go back and fix the matter. He didn't want to resign, he thought that he was a good enough teacher and had been so for many years that it didn't merit a resignation. So he faced the bored and ended up being fired. 

Intermingled within all the arguments there was some comical moments. It wasn't bad. I was surprised how entertaining it was. 

Doctor's office

The kids always have a cough or a runny nose of some kind. I generally brush it off give them some medicine to help and hope it goes away. Sadly this time it wasn't going away.

During and after preschool Owen wasn't quiet himself. After lunch he laid on the couch not wanting to do anything. He laid on my lap very solemn. He started complaining that his ear was hurt, it even brought him to tears. I didn't think much of it and again told him to relax. The reminder of the afternoon and into the evening he still complained to me about it. He wouldn't even come eat dinner. So I finally had to listen to him and we headed to the instacare. 

I checked in online, which is supposed to cut your wait time in half if not more. So we waited for our time to be at the instacare. We got there and checked in, but then sadly sat there for another hour and a half. They finally called us back, but it was only into the room where they take your temperature and ask whats going on. They then sent us back out into the waiting room to wait to see the doctor.

I was beyond furious. I couldn't believe how long this was taking even after I used the online log in. Come to find out, the guy at the desk screwed up and all those that used the online log in, where pushed back like they hadn't even used the online log in at all.

It was talking so long that poor Owen actually fell asleep while waiting. 

When we finally were taken back into the room, he took a quick look at his throat and ears and informed me that he had a double ear infection. Poor buddy, no wonder he was crying about it. He gave us an antibiotic and sent us on our way.

 The thing that kills me the most is how long we waited in the waiting room and how little time we were with the doctor.

White elephant gifts

The ward's activity in January was an adult date night. Luckily for us they provided a nursery for the kids and it saved us the responsibility to find a babysitter. We were each asked to bring a goodies to share and a white elephant gift. I found that a little funny since Christmas was over and White elephant is a game played at Christmas time, but we complied with the request. 

When we got there we took the kids to the nursery and they were the only ones there. They were excited to have so much attention. Sadly for them that didn't last long as others began to show up. Once they did it was time to as they say "get this party started."

We first began with eating the goodies and visiting with others. Then after a little bit we pulled out the games and started to play. Ben and I were at the charades table. Well it was charades backwards. One person guesses while the rest of the team acts out the words were trying to guess. Despite the difference in the game, I still sucked at it. We did boys vs. girls and they completely kicked our butts.

When we were done there was only one more table that hadn't finished their game yet, but once they did we pulled all our chairs into a circle and played the white elephant game. Someone read a story and while they did so if your heard left you passed left and if you heard right you passed right. Sadly for adults we screwed up a lot. But eventually the story was over and everyone had a gift. Then we took turns opening our gifts and you could steal if you want to.

I ended up with a used journal and a small sign to hang on the wall. Ben ended up with a hat. The one thing that bugs me with white elephant games is that every time we play it is never expressed whether or not its a gag white elephant or a nicer white elephant. The majority of the gift in our game were a nicer gift, but then there were a few that were gag. It drives me crazy. This was no different then any other time. I'm not a huge fan a whit elephant, but oh well. It was still fun to play.

After the game was over it was time to go. I had had enough fun for the night and I was sick of the kids running in and out of the nursery making the young women upset. So we cleaned up our share and took the kids home.

When we got home we decided to give out gifts to the kids. Owen happily claimed the hat

and Gabbi was super excited to take the used journal. Other then that, I threw the sign away.

At least the kids were happy about what we got. Owen was so happy that he wanted me to take a picture and send it to two special people, his "adopted" mom in our ward who actually brought the hat as their white elephant for the game and Kayden. He was excited to show Kayden that he now had a hat just like him.

Auto show

Ben saw a commercial for the auto show out in Salt Lake. We've never been to an auto shoe before, but thought it would be fun. We have been to many car shows and have loved those, so we thought this was just up that alley. We packed the kids in the car and headed to the South Town Expo Center.

On the way there all three kids fell asleep. I couldn't believe it. Well, I figured William would be out, but not the other two. At least it was a quiet car ride.

When we got there we paid for our tickets and headed to check out all the cars. I was surprised at how much it cost to get in there just to look at a few cars. At least the kids eyes lit up when we walked in the room seeing all those cars.

We first came to some race cars; actually race cars. Nothing as big as NASCAR, but they were race cars none the less. Owen had a blast checking these ones out. He said he wanted to be a race car driver one day. I just laughed. I hope that thought leaves his mind. When William looked at the cars and made crashing noises. I just laughed. He was thinking what I was thinking when Owen said he wanted to be a race car driver.

As we walked around the kids had fun hopping in and out of all the different cars. We didn't really want them to do that, but I wasn't going to get into an arguing fest with them in front of hundreds of people trying to enjoy themselves. After all they paid to be there too.

Circling around all the cars we found ourselves in the back of the room. They had some National Guard and Army Reservist there to talk to those that were interested in what they had to offer. As a part of their exhibit the kids could get in the trucks and the car adorned with an American flag. The kids have been in many a army truck, but they still get a kick out of it.

Sadly it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, they had really nice cars. Maybe even a few that we'd like to own some day, but it was all to depressing to see the cost of these vehicles and realize how far away that actually was.

The only part that I liked was the room of old time exotic cars. They were from the early 1900's, my type of car. They were restored and displayed for the event. There was even a car that was built and constructed from beginning to end by the auto class at Weber State. It was a pretty cool looking car.

At the end we decided to spoil the kids and let them pick out a car as a souvenir. Big mistake, they took forever. There wasn't even that much to choose from but they kept bouncing back and forth. Gabbi was the worse. She picked up so many different styles and types that she literally couldn't decide. We told her that we were walking away and then she finally choose. Owen had a hard time deciding between two Jurassic World Jeep/trucks. To make that decision easier for him, William took the other; problem solved.

I was glad to be finally going home. It was fun to see some of the cars, but totally not worth the money and not worth it to take the kids. If asked to go again I would say no. Once was enough for me.

Venable family party

Our first big event for the new year was a Christmas/birthday party for Ben's Grandma. Her birthday is in the first few days of January, so each year we celebrate Christmas and her birthday all at once. Every year it is the same, we meet at a church building in Ben's Aunt's ward. Everyone pitches in to bring an assigned potluck item and one or two of the aunts bring the main food item.

Once the majority of the family is there we all sit down to eat. I find it ironic that every year there isn't much mingling. The family groups generally stay within their family unit. It doesn't really surprise me though, it happens a lot at family parities. At least that I've seen.

Normally after dinner they have some kind of program, talent show, something, but this year it was a free for all. Some visited, some left, and others played games (basketball). The played many rounds of lighting. The kids found themselves mainly running around the gum and chasing each other in the halls playing tag. They seemed to be able to find plenty to do with an entire church building as their playground.

William was the funniest. He tried to play ball with the big boys, but just couldn't hack it. He would stand below the hoop with his arms up and beg for a chance to catch and throw the ball. The big boys of course didn't see him or even give him the time of day. Ben took William aside and found him another ball to play with and they rolled the ball back and forth for quite a while. He was having so much fun with Ben.

Before he headed out the door we went to go visit with Grandma Ona to see how she was doing. Not to long ago she fell while out in her yard. I believe it was over their dog. Either way, she hurt her leg. I don't remember if she broke it or just severely hurt it. Either way she had to wear a boot and even use a walker. This was the first time she was out and about. She was doing pretty good too. The kids were excited to see Grandma and to see how she was doing. They told her that they couldn't wait to come over to see her and her chickens. The look on all of their faces was too cute.

Rooms

With the need and desire to clean out the house we went through every room, well almost every room. Some of the rooms even got some new pieces of furniture. It took over a week to put them all together and finish up the rooms, but we were very pleased with the finished product.

1st project was the new Office. We moved the boys downstairs and made their old room into an office for Ben. It was going to be a nicer place for Ben to shut the kids out in order to complete his school work. We first started with a new desk for him. We also kept the old desk so I could use it for crafts and what not. We then added an elliptical runner. Then finished it off with decorations on the wall; things from Ben's mission, the military, and art work from his Grandma.

2nd project the boys new room. We put them in the biggest room we have downstairs since they were sharing a room. Owen was also bugging us to put the bunk beds together, sadly we didn't, not mush head room. He wasn't very happy with us, but when we told him that we were getting him a new dresser he forgot why he was upset. Once the beds were put back together and the dresser was up the boys helped up put up the decorations and then it was complete.

3rd and final project, Gabbi's room. We moved her into Ben's old office. It was a smaller room, but it suits her just fine. We also bought her a new white cabinet for all the stuffed animals and a white dresser to match her bed. She was excited to have all white furniture now. She even had white shelves to match. She wasn't there to help me put up her decorations but she seemed really happy about the finished product.

It took a while to go through every closet, every cabinet, every cupboard, and room, but I'm pleased with the results and hope that we don't re-clutter or re-junk it again.

Daddy's hat

With the new year we decided to make some changes around the house. This really stemmed from having to clean out Grandma's house and not wanting to have unnecessary junk in our house. We have gone through every room of the house.

The biggest project was going through Ben's military stuff. While doing so Ben came across his green uniform dress hat. He threw it on a pile of things to keep and then William walked over. He found it and tried to put it on. He didn't understand how to put it on, so Ben helped him and he proudly walked around the house with the hat.