Painting and Projects

Painting began at our house on President's day! They painted the main floor and the upstairs hallway, and redid all the baseboards in the same areas. It took them Monday through Wednesday to do everything and we really like how it turned out! It's taken some adjustment because it's soooo different than it was, but it is beautiful. While they were painting, we lived in the basement. I was so grateful our basement was finished so we could enjoy a bathroom, carpet, and everything we needed for entertainment! We picnicked downstairs each day for lunch, which made for a fun adventure. Katey and Hope joined us in our basement dwelling on Wednesday when I had a class in the morning. Luckily, by the time they finished their work in the evenings, we had dinner at our kitchen table and we all slept in our regular beds and rooms at night. Three days was enough time to feel displaced and greatly appreciate having my home back! 

I wondered how'd they paint up that high, and here they are! 

The finished kitchen

Monday, President's Day, we went bowling with the Bryce's and the Merrill's. Jay had a big spill on his first or second turn and then was pretty hesitant to keep going. Katey was the super aunt who helped him bowl almost every time! Hugh wanted to bowl too, so he took a few of Jay's turns. When Jay was struggling, Jack sat with him and talked to him. Then, Lindsay saved the day with extra snacks. Jason walked around with Jay in the arcade when he was done bowling. It took the whole crew to help the day be successful for me and I was so grateful! We lucked out hitting a special where we could bowl two games so Hugh and I stayed with Jack, Lindsay, and Allen and bowled the whole time. We went to Katey's for lunch and then I helped Kylee, Tia, and Katey whitewash some new bedframes they got. We found the bedframes for free on the street on a Sunday walk, and went back and picked them up for the girls. They worked hard sanding, and then we refinished them. They turned out very cute! 

Katey helping Jay, Jack in the background

Hugh thought his own water cup was so fun! 

Aunt Katey helping Hugh

We had a Relief Society activity on Tuesday evening and I got to pull out my sewing machine! I sewed hearts all night, which was fun. I also taught a sister how to sew that had never sewn before. She did a great job, and I realized how hard it is to teach someone a new skill. It was nice to have an evening out and some time with women in the ward. 

We drove for the first time to Brantner Elementary school for Kinder Round up! If we decide it's where Jay needs to go, it's going to be a drive. It took me a little over twenty minutes to get there. We met Matthew there after work and got a tour of the school. I had the chance to discuss with the vice principal a little about Jay's needs and asked what we could do to make sure he's set up for success day one of the school year. She connected me with some people in the district special education department and I hope we'll be able to find some answers soon. .......I stopped writing (as in literally stopped) because I got a call from the Special Education department. We were informed if we send Jay to Brantner, or Padilla, or anywhere outside of our school district, and they determine he needs central program, like an Autistic classroom, and they  don't have capacity to take him, they'll send him back to his home school. Their Autism programs are currently full, with waitlists. Jay could get on the waitlists, but will always be lowest priority because of being out of district. I was heartbroken getting this news. I thought we'd found a hopeful solution where Jay might actually be able to find success and support, and then we were told no and our chances of any help are very slim. Our district has no autism programs or trained professionals. We also felt anger, anger that we know help is available but because we live on the wrong side of the street we can't get access to the help. We're on the waitlist for Padilla, and I don't think we'll be sending Jay to Brantner, it just doesn't make sense if he can't access resources for Autistic kids. We're looking into additional ideas for how to get Jay support he needs close to home and through the home school. We're praying and realize that Heavenly Father has a much better and grander plan for Jay than we even come close to understanding. We'll find Jay what he needs with guidance from Heavenly Father because He loves Jay so much and is there to help us!

We were so excited when the painters finished and we got to put the house together again! We kept pictures off the walls for a while to let the paint cure, but having couches in place and our living space back was a great blessing! We're spending any good weather day outside walking and going to the park. We have to take advantage of the sunshine when it's here. I think we're all itching for summer and we've still got a lot of winter and cold springtime ahead. 

Hugh bundled up to stay warm in the car during school drop off and errands! As he would say, "it's coldy, coldy, coldy!"

We try really hard to go on Sunday walks, we enjoyed a short stop on our walk this week at a park. 

Service, Love, and Prayer

The first half of February has been packed! It's been full of service, love, and a lot of prayer. I have felt overwhelmed with my to-do's in a way I haven't felt in a long time and I've needed to rely on Heavenly Father for strength beyond my own! I've also needed many family and friends who have encouraged me and helped me continue, even when it felt like there was no end to my responsibilities. I have felt strength from Heaven in so many ways and am very grateful! It's good to have busy times, to remind you of the things that matter most and to be grateful for the less busy times. 

I'll start by sharing various service opportunities I've had within a short two week period. I started by teaching Sunday School on the first Sunday of the month. I love teaching and Matthew got to be my co-teacher again. I was able to pull in some Church history from the Saints book, got the class up and moving around a couple of times, and I think they enjoyed learning. I quickly moved from lesson preparations to preparing a talk for the following Sunday. My talk was on seeking and receiving revelation, and I really enjoyed studying it. I was blessed to sit down and write and feel my own revelation coming as I wrote. The same Sunday I gave my talk, I taught Jay's primary class. I had my friend, Katie Dahl, sit in with me. Jay loves Katie, and it helped me be able to focus on others in the class and teach the lesson. We talked about how Jesus protects us when we follow him, and made little sheep. Jay loved his sheep necklace, and I think the other kids did too! 

Matthew and I were able to go to the temple together to do a session Friday evening. On our way, we dropped off dinner to a family in the ward who needed it, and before we came home, we cleaned the temple. Lila Conner watched the boys and she said they did pretty well. We stopped for dinner at Culver's and ate in a parking lot to enjoy some quiet time together before going to the temple. I love when I can feel peace in the temple and truly enjoy my time there, without rushing. Cleaning went well, and luckily our temple is smaller so it only takes a crew of 10 about an hour to vacuum everything. They usually don't make us do any deep cleaning, just vacuuming and raking. It was a very late night, and we were tempted to not take the whole drew to church cleaning at 8am the next morning, but loaded everyone up anyways. There were only a couple people there to clean, so it was a good thing we showed up. I found that Jay is the best trash buddy for cleaning the church. He loves to push trashcans, so we gathered trash from every room in the building and he had the best time! We all got home feeling happier and ready to have a better day. 

There was a young couple, like us, that got baptized! Ian and Kayley are so kind and have two super sweet little girls, close to Jay and Hugh's age. We see them during nursery drop off and they've been very consistent coming to church over the past month or two. Our boys thought seeing the baptisms was so cool and often ask when we're going to another. 

I also started a class called Hanen. It's Wednesday mornings from 9-11:30. I drop off Jay and almost immediately have to log into the session. One Wednesday we met our new Speech Therapist and learned about the program, and the second session was just with the parents of these kiddos with Autism. The curriculum is built for parents of children with Autism, to teach us how to communicate with them better. Katey and Hope came for our long session and helped with Hugh. Hugh was a little concerned about why I was ignoring him, and wasn't super receptive to Katey's help. I think he'll warm up over time as it becomes routine and he knows I am still around. I am excited to learn and it's already challenging some of my normal thought processes, and I am trying to have an open mind to learn some new things that will maybe really help us along our journey with Jay! We feel blessed to have gotten into the program, as there is usually quite a waitlist. We took the stroller to get Jay and then Jay and I were playing stop go on the way home. Hope and Hugh though playing and running in the snow seemed more fun than riding, so they hopped out and walked the rest of the way home. They are such cuties!

Hugh and Hope

The two little two's, so cute!

Hugh and I got to go to lunch with Jay for family lunch day and we visited the Kindergarten pod afterwards. Jay does so much better this year at staying at the table and eating his food, it's fun to see the growth in him. The tour of the kindergarten pod was okay, I left not feeling excited to send Jay to kindergarten. We've been praying and fasting to know where to send him to school, and we're still waiting to hear back from the school we're truly hoping for! Needless to say, we're still praying and praying for him to get into the right school that will provide him with the resources and support team for this stage of his life. 

Amongst all the things noted above, I was asked by the RS activity committee leader to come up with ideas for how to roll out a month of service for the ward. When I was asked to do this, a flood of overwhelm came over me. On top of everything I had to do, an assignment like this seemed too much. My friend Anna was standing nearby when I was asked, and the leader looped her into the request. When I finally finished my talk, teaching primary, and all the other things, I sat down with Anna to see what we could send. Anna had already come up with some amazing ideas and a theme to go along with what the activity leader wanted. She was prepared and lifted this burden in a way that I needed! Anna was an angel and an answer to my prayer! We've now met with the leader and handed everything back to her and her committee for final roll out. 

We enjoyed having the missionaries over for dinner and the boys also loved it! Jay loves playing with the missionaries name tags, and during the winter, they always have a tag on their coats that they let him play with. They shared a fun message and brought the Spirit into our home, which was a wonderful blessing. I secretly hope that my feeding missionaries might someday be positive karma for my boys being fed by families on their missions. 

We've decided to repaint our main floor and redo baseboards. The painting is beyond our skill level due to the nature of our home, so we got some quotes and one crew also does baseboards. Their quotes came in very good and we're moving forward. In preparation for painting, I've had to choose paint colors, buy baseboards, patch holes, caulk stairs, and move as much as possible out of the main floor. Paint color was sooooo hard! My friend, Breeanne, came over a couple times to help me look at the paint colors and think about what might look best. She's only a few days from having a baby, so I know she sacrificed to make the time to come by! I was very proud to fit my 12 foot baseboards inside my minivan, and Hugh was thrilled too! He kept saying, "So big!" Patching holes and caulking the stairs was my nightly activity. It was something I couldn't do with the boys awake. Our garage door has also been not working, so I called a repair guy. He came and found we had faulty wiring and quickly fixed it. I am soooooo grateful to have a garage door that opens and closes now!

When I stood up and my heel hit the baseboard and things went flying, Matthew said it was the last straw

We've gone to Home Depot a lot lately, and Hugh's been a trooper

"It's so big!" - Hugh

Caulking step 1, taping

Caulking, I realized I needed to get a tube to use with my caulk gun. The hand tube was way too hard.

First quarter done!

Final bottom steps

Final top steps

Valentine's day this year was a little extra fun! We started celebrating Thursday evening by meeting Matthew for dinner at Lupitas in Brighton. We'd never eaten there before, but it was soooo yummy! The servings were huge and delicious. I packed the boys some mac and cheese and other food for them to eat while we ate the restaurant food. Sometimes restaurants can be really hard with the boys, but they did well! Valentine's morning, I made pink pancakes in heart shapes. Hugh actually recognized them as hearts and it made me so happy! I also made Jay's valentines for his class and his little valentine box. He continues to carry his box around and loads it up with all sorts of toys. I also decided to make a little treat for my ministering sisters and companion. Hugh and I dropped off Jay at school and then walked to make our deliveries. It was a brisk morning and we only caught one sister at home. Jay's school party was an ice cream party and he and Hugh had a great time! It's always fun to see Jay in the classroom and how his teachers know him well enough that they are also on the Jay anticipation/high alert mode for him. We left the party and packed our lunches to go up to Jack's house. Betty Jane, Allen, and Roxy watched Jay and Hugh while I went to the temple with Jack and Lindsay. Two weeks in a row being able to go to the temple, what a blessing! Hugh slept almost the whole time, and I think the kids were grateful when we got home so I could take Jay home. It was wonderful to be in the temple with Jack and Lindsay, and I missed having Matthew with me. Valentine's evening, we had pizza for dinner and we roasted s'mores on our indoor s'more maker. S'mores are comfort food, and have been something I've loved since a young child roasting mallows at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the summer. I ate more than I could count, then we watched the live action, "Cinderella." We watched this movie while we were dating and it brought back fun memories! I made the boys, Matthew included, little scratch off valentines cards. It was fun to watch the boys try to scratch off and I think Matthew is slowly working through his scratch offs as well. 

When I told Jay we were going to meet Dad for dinner, he ran downstairs for several minutes. Came back up, loaded and ready to go!

Pink heart pancakes!

Pink rice crispy treats

Jay's Valentine Box

Jay's Valentines

Jay loves to help Mrs. Kim, so here is helping her clean up the tables after the party

Hugh loves the busy wall in Jay's classroom!

Homemade indoor s'more!

Scratch off Valentine's I made for the boys

We kicked off the month with a family bike ride and pickleball outside. It was a "warmer" day and we wanted to get outside together. February is when Matthew's work really starts picking up, so we were grateful to squeeze in one last Saturday fun activity before he starts working all of the Saturdays. Matthew did get to ride the scooter because his bike tube has a big hole, so we need to get that fixed for summer!

Matthew, Hugh, Jay, and I finishing up our ride. 

I also sold my dresser and my bookshelf that I bought when I first moved to Colorado. It was sad to see them go, but the lady who bought the dresser was so excited to have something so beautiful to store her sewing things! We actually delivered the dresser to her house and she paid us extra, which was very nice. I also sold a few toys we weren't using. It's nice to get rid of clutter and also make a little extra cash. 

Hugh has recently started to say things are silly, and even calls things silly gooses, which is very funny! I also built a little bear with playdough the other day and he said, "I like it!" I've never received a compliment like that from a kiddo and it was so sweet! He loves reading books and could sit on my (or anyone's) lap forever reading. He's also started to line things up, from cars to blueberries to chips. 

Hugh and Jay lining up the cars

Jay is getting better at building with magna tiles and is getting some tall towers! He's getting better at sentences and using appropriate pronouns, like I, me, you, her, and him. He's always so happy and gives me the best cuddles after naptime. 

I helped Jay steady the tower a bit, but he built it and I was so impressed! He then wanted to use his "light" to shine through the tiles.

Jay with his most recent schoolwork. He comes home with lots of papers that people color or paint for him, I only included one here. 

When Jay chooses to do his lite-brite, he does amazing work and it's fun to see his focus!

Living his best life on our bed with his jacket, he's been very into jackets and being "cold" 

Time to clean the church! Jay ran downstairs and loaded up his things. He's prepared for anything!